


Into Our World

by MelyndaR



Series: Common Ground series [4]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-27
Updated: 2015-03-27
Packaged: 2018-03-19 21:31:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 23,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3624963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelyndaR/pseuds/MelyndaR
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For most, adjusting to life in Storybrooke is easy, but when Regina brings one more person back from the dead, the town's peace may be over unless they can all move past their difficult history.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Here we go - the first chapter of the fourth story in the "Common Ground" series! And somehow it started out with a Snowing scene, which I almost never write, but okay. Just so you know, this takes place right after the end of "Common Ground" (assuming they left the t(r)oll bridge and went directly back to the sheriff's station) and - timeline wise - during the nineteenth chapter of "Between Us." I swear the timeline will start getting less confusing soon, but I felt like I wanted to write the rest of the day that they came back to life, so this happened.

"You give me one good reason why we shouldn't throw a humungous celebratory party at Granny's!" Snow White demanded of Emma and Baelfire.

"Because," Emma drawled. "I don't want a 'humungous celebratory party,' and we were just at Granny's this morning."

"Besides," Baelfire added. "I'm 99.99% certain that I'm not going to be the only man proposing in the next couple of days."

"Then can we do a party after all of the proposals?" Snow bargained. "Wait, who's proposing to who?"

Baelfire sighed, answering, "Killian to Mama, and Daniel to Regina – but don't say anything."

Snow almost squealed with glee in the middle of the sheriff's station and the exasperation Emma felt disappeared. It was impossible to feel anything but sheer joy for long at all when she had Baelfire alive and at her side and as of half an hour ago his engagement ring on her hand. This whole day so far had been an entirely surreal experience, considering that she and Rumplestiltskin had gone to the Enchanted Forest and cast a spell to bring four people back to life.

Baelfire, who was at her side.

Arabella, the daughter Belle had miscarried in her earliest days at the Dark Castle.

Milah, Rumplestiltskin's ex-wife and Captain Hook's soon-to-be fiancée.

Daniel, Regina's first love and soon-to-be fiancé.

Emma genuinely didn't have the words to express how happy she was.

"So, what's the actual plan here?" Snow asked, changing the topic. "Where are you going to be staying, Baelfire? We have room at the apartment, if you'd like."

"We do?" Charming spoke up from his desk, eyes widening a little.

"For Baelfire, we do," Snow said, looking over her shoulder at her husband.

"I'm afraid my dad might skin me alive for that," Baelfire admitted before paused, obviously considering something before he said, "You know what? Maybe not." He held up a finger and fished out his phone. "I'd like to come over and spend the rest of the day with you guys at least; let me just make sure I won't-"

He broke off, suddenly looking a little sheepish, and Emma got why, filling in, "Get in trouble with Mommy and Daddy?"

"Mom and Papa," Bae shot back with a smirk, putting his phone to his ear. Then he drawled in a sugary, coaxing tone to the person on the other side of the phone, "Hi, Mom!"

Emma almost cracked up when he grinned at her and she realized he'd called Belle on purpose. Smart man. He proceeded to tell his step-mom what he wanted to do, and could she "please keep Papa happy?"

Belle must've said something because Baelfire paused then smiled and said teasingly, "See, I told you it was out with the old!" He jerked the phone away from his ear and laughed, putting the phone back in place to say, "I'm teasing, Mom, and you know it! Thank you… Oh, yes! Of course she said yes! And tell Papa that she loves the ring. I'll see you tomorrow… Breakfast at Granny's would be great."

He was still chuckling as he hung up the phone, declaring, "Am I the only one who thinks that Mom's something of a miracle worker?"

"No," Emma said. "But I'm more interested in finding out how she became 'Mom' to you."

"We spent a lot of time together grieving and trying to bring somebody back to life; as you now know, that tends to create a rather interesting bond."

"You have your mom – and Mama Milah – and I have my papa and my dad," Emma peered pointedly at Charming as she added, "Who I love very dearly and could never find a replacement for."

"I know," Charming admitted, getting up from his desk and going to pull Emma into a hug. "I love you too."

"Speaking of fathers and children," Baelfire asked, turning to Henry, "Where are you going to be staying tonight?"

"With Mama," Henry said, nodding towards Emma. "But Mom's already asked me to have supper with her and Daniel tomorrow evening, which I suspect is going to lead to me staying the night if she has her way."

"Of course she'll want you to get to know Daniel," Snow offered. "He's going to be your step-dad."

"Yeah," Henry muttered. "It's just… I think I've seen him before, and I wish I could remember where."

"I'm not sure that's possible, Henry," Emma said hesitantly.

Henry shrugged, willing to let it go for now when Baelfire said, "So, I actually wasn't it town long enough to get a good look around. Could I maybe borrow a couple of tour guides now that we've told the good news?"

Henry bounded to his father's side as Emma slid her hand back into his and just like that they were heading back out of the sheriff's office.

David sighed as he watched them go, wrapping his arms around Snow's shoulders from behind.

She kissed his wrist, asking, "Sad sigh or happy?"

"Both."

Snow's smile was exactly "both" as she murmured, "I know; me too. You saw how happy she was, though."

"I did," David nodded with another soft sigh.

"Hey," Snow turned around in his arms, laying her hands on his chest as she pointed out, "At least she's not trying to move on from his death with Hook."

"She was never going to fall for Hook," David nearly growled.

"Given time, that might've been wishful thinking," Snow pointed out.

"Nope;" David replied with certainty. "Hook still hadn't given up on the memory of Milah anymore that Emma was ready to get over Baelfire's death."

"Well then, I guess it's a good thing that both Baelfire and his mother are alive again, huh?"

David nodded, smiling at his wife's chipper tone as he agreed, "Very good. Henry was so giddy, and I don't know that I've ever seen Emma smile so widely."

"She was about to start bouncing off the walls," Snow chuckled.

"Do you blame her?" David asked, tilting his wife's chin up for a kiss. "She had just gotten her beloved back alive again. That's worth smiling over."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not necessarily sure where this came from, but it's an idea that I've had niggling in the back of my mind for this AU for awhile, so now I'm giving it to you and asking what you think about it.

At a knock at her door, Regina's eyes snapped up from where she was twittering nervously around her house, cleaning up this and that in anticipation of Daniel – her first love who was alive and whole and here in Storybrooke! – coming here once he was done with whatever business he thought he had with Mr. Gold. She flew to the door and flung it open, eagerly taking Daniel's hand and pulling him inside when she saw him on the stoop.

"Did everything go okay with Mr. Gold?" she asked, placing a quick kiss on his lips.

"He was a perfect gentleman and very helpful," Daniel assured her, giving her a second kiss.

"Did you have any trouble following my directions here?" she asked. Daniel shook his head and Regina said, "I kind of thought that you might stay out and look around town for a little while."

"Was I supposed to?" he asked, looking concerned that he might've muddled something she'd wanted.

"No, not at all! I love it when you're with me."

"And I love being with you, which is why I hoped you'd show me around the town yourself."

"I can do that," Regina declared, grabbing her jacket and pulling him back out the door with her. "Henry's with Emma and Baelfire right now, so," Regina asked, eyes bright with joyful excitement as she looked up at Daniel "What do you want to see first?"

Daniel shrugged. "The only places I've seen are Granny's and Mr. Gold's shop; the rest will be new to me."

"Then we'd better get started," Regina declared. They began to walk along the sidewalk, holding hands as she asked, "You have to have questions; are there any I could answer?"

Daniel hesitated, thinking before he began to list aloud what he'd already learned. "Henry is your adopted son, but Emma and Baelfire's biological son. Emma is Snow White and David's daughter while Baelfire is Mr. Gold's son. Right?"

"Right."

"You started off rocky between… it sounds like nearly everyone, but that's getting better now?"

"Yes."

"Do you think that everyone will be able to keep those promises Snow had us make?"

This question Regina stopped to consider for a moment before she replied, "I think they'll certainly try… It's time to try. And honestly, Rumplestiltskin and I were the only town residents who ever truly caused problems and that could, arguably, be trailed back to you and Baelfire, respectively, but you're both here now, so we're going to be fine on that front."

"Did people who weren't residents cause problems here?" Daniel asked, picking up on that implication.

"Yes," Regina answered with a deep sigh. "Although, now that I think about it, those people were our family members too. Rumplestiltskin's father and my mother and sister, to be exact."

Daniel missed a step, repeating, "Your mother came here?"

"Yes," Regina replied, giving his hand a comforting squeeze. "It's a long story that I can catch you up on later, but long story short… Snow killed her."

"Good for her."

And then he froze, realizing what he'd just said about his true love's mother, as his eyes blew wide, looking at her worriedly. "It's okay," she said with a soft smile as she leaned into him while they continued walking. "She, ah… her death was another thing that it was simply time for."

They were silent for a minute, Daniel scanning the area while Regina was deep in thought, before he asked, "Then what are you thinking about so hard?"

"A lot of sort of interconnected things," Regina muttered.

Daniel brushed the hair back away from her face so that he could see her expression while they walked, pointing out, "Everything is interconnected in your head, Ginny. Something's wrong."

"Not wrong, just… sobering."

"What?"

Regina paused before admitting, "Snow again, I guess. I think you would like her. Heck, I think she and I could be friends if I hadn't treated her the way that I have in the past. Rumplestiltskin – our world's most notorious trickster – just brought back the daughter his wife had with another man and is hell-bent on raising her as his own. But look at what I did to Snow!"

Daniel stopped in his tracks, turning Regina to face him as he asked suddenly, "Does Rumplestiltskin love his wife?"

"They have true love."

"Were they both willing to marry one another?"

"Yes, of course."

"Therein lies a difference, sweetheart. You terrified of marriage to Leopold; you didn't like anything about that situation."

"I think I could've done it though – been a mother to Snow – because before she told on us I really did like her, and she's growing on me again now. For a long while I even did try to make my marriage work."

"But in our world none of it worked out how you wanted it to, and that much disappointment would make anyone bitter – so long as you come out of the bitterness and work past it. It sounds like that's what you've been doing already for Henry, and I want to help you."

Regina nodded, declaring, "You're right," and Daniel grinned, giving her another quick kiss before they resumed walking.

"You know," Regina said after another quiet minute, "I originally adopted Henry because our town therapist, Dr. Hopper – Jiminy Cricket – suggested that the 'emptiness' I was feeling in my life could be filled by raising a child, becoming a mother. In a way, he was right; it helped… but now I wonder if there wasn't a particular child that I needed in my life to make me feel better. Part of me thinks that even fourteen years ago I was wishing I had done better by Snow. I mean, we're civil now, maybe even friends, but I really,  _really_  don't see her ever looking at me as a step-mother in any way shape or form – let alone one that she would love as a mother."

"Is that what you want from her?" Daniel asked curiously.

"I don't know," Regina said, somehow sounding just as curious. "Maybe it was just a passing thought brought on by, I don't know, seeing Belle and Baelfire together again earlier today?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place directly after the end of "Between Us." Hopefully from here on out the timeline of the stories will be less intertwined and more linear.

Belle had never quite understood the phrase "on cloud nine" until yesterday. Yesterday had been one of the best days of her life, considering that she'd had her previously-dead baby put back in her arms only minutes after realizing that Baelfire had been brought back to life, and right now she still had no intentions of coming down from her "cloud" – not even if Grace  _was_ late for her after-school assisting at the library.

She was too caught up in murmuring to the daughter that she had strapped into a baby sling across her chest – courtesy of Snow White – to even really notice Grace was late, let alone when the teenager did eventually swing the library door open and dart inside.

"Sorry I'm late, Belle!" Grace called out from near the circulation desk. "Where are you?"

"Over here," Belle called, coming out of the back room with a dust clothe and can of cleaning spray.

"Sorry I'm late," Grace apologized, leaning against the circulation desk and catching her breath.

Belle checked the clock, commenting, "I really didn't even notice. I was just enjoying the alone time with my daughter."

"That's what I heard," Grace said, grinning broadly as she stepped closer and looked at the dark-haired newborn. "How old is she?"

"Interesting question," Belle chuckled. "But I think we're just going to say three days old today."

"Well, since you just got a three-day-old baby, I'm pretty sure you could still be at home with her if you wanted to. But I guess nobody's really bothering to think along those lines."

"What do you mean?" Belle asked curiously.

"I'm pretty sure I saw Regina and her… Daniel checking out the stables on my way over here, and before that Henry and I," Grace paused, eyeing her warily as she finished, "Went to Golden Blends where Milah was working with Mrs. Holt."

"Don't look at me like that;" Belle protested. "I'm not bitter about Milah being here; she seems far to tangled up in her Killian to cause any trouble in my world."

"Maybe, maybe not. That doesn't change the fact that she's Mr. Gold's ex and Baelfire's mom, and people are going to talk."

"She is those things, yes, and I am aware that people are going to talk – don't they always – but that doesn't mean that I have to be suspicious or cranky about it." Belle cocked her head then, narrowing her eyes as she looked more closely at Grace. "Is something the matter?"

"Me? What? No!"

"M-hm," Belle nodded, smiling as she watched Grace wince over how pathetic her lie had been. "So, what's up?"

"Really, it's nothing!"

"You look especially thrilled for someone who's had nothing happen to her and is running late to work, no less."

"I'm fine, I'm happy, I'm sorry I'm late, can we get to work now?"

Belle raised an eyebrow, declaring, "I will find out. Just because everything is going well now doesn't mean you can disappear on me; I like you too much for that."

"I would never! I like you too much for that too." Grace bit her lip, suddenly looking a little shy about whatever thought had just flitted into her head, but she asked, "What do you want me to do?"

They both knew full well that she was attempting to change the subject again, and Belle was just too curious now to let that happen, so she set the dusting things aside and gestured down one of the aisles. "We can finish shelving those books from the last time you were here."

Grace nodded and the two of them went to work, silence reigning for a couple minutes with only the occasional noise from Arabella as the little one slept. Every noise caused Belle to pause and smile, looking down at her daughter as if she was something out of a dream. She certainly felt like she was!

Eventually Grace commented, "Henry said her name was Arabella?"

"It is." Grace looked at Arabella out of the corner of her eye as she continued shelving books, seeming confused by something until Belle asked, "What is it?"

Grace shook her head and looked back at the books, turning away from Belle to grab another stack to shelve as she commented hesitantly, "It's just, she, ah… doesn't look like you – or Mr. Gold."

Belle sighed as Grace glanced at her with an uncertain frown. "No, she doesn't. She looks like my… ex-fiance."

Grace was intuitive; she could often read facial cues and body language as easily as one of the books in their hands. She knew that Belle was uncomfortable with the topic, and she wasn't asking questions despite being carefully curious. But Belle wasn't stupid either. Grace may have been the first to voice the thought, but she knew that others would follow. This was a question that she would be asked more than once, and she might as well give the answer first to someone with whom she was comfortable.

"Let's see… what have I told you already? You know what's in Henry's book. You know how Rumple and I met, how we fell in love, and most everything that happened after that. But you don't know what happened  _before_ that, do you? You didn't know I was engaged when I went to live with Rumple… but I was – to a man, a knight named Gaston. He… was not kind to me." She wasn't sure how to phrase what she wanted to say when it was directed towards a fourteen-year-old, but she tried. You know that the moral standards in our worlds are higher than here, and that I was much more reserved when I met Rumple then I am now… yet I still fell pregnant. I was concerned for how Arabella would grow up around Gaston, so when Rumple offered me a way to leave, I took it. Only, I miscarried her not long after..."

When Belle ended her story, Grace said, determined to end the tale on a bright note, "But you were safe then, and you found true love."

"I did," Belle smiled at her young friend and they went back to work.

Belle watched Grace out of the corner of her eye, seeing that the girl was deep in thought, and, knowing she was being watched, Grace eventually asked, "How did you know it was true love?"

Belle narrowed her eyes at Grace, taking a moment to try and decipher where the question was coming from before she answered, "Honestly? I didn't – not until I kissed him and his curse started breaking."


	4. Chapter 4

Baelfire leaned against the display case in his father's shop, declaring, "I've got a question."

"Maybe I have an answer," Rumplestiltskin replied, looking at his son with the soft smile that he'd been wearing all day.

"I thought maybe I'd wait and ask Emma once she gets off her shift, but you and Regina seem to be the ones who know everything about this town, so… do you know what the deal is with Henry and Grace?"

"Henry and Grace," Rumplestiltskin drawled, leaning his palms against the display case on the opposite side. "Why would you ask that?"

His father's eyes were bright in the way that meant knowledge, though, and that only made Baelfire more curious. "I only talked to her once in this world, but when Pan's curse came, once we got to the Charmings' castle, she stuck pretty close to Ruby, Mom, and I. We grew closer because we were awfully miserable with missing Henry, but when I asked too many questions she never really wanted to talk about it. Maybe it was just with me, but she was hiding something… and so are you. So what's up between them?"

Rumplestiltskin grinned before requesting, "Don't tell that I did this."

Bae snorted. " _That's_ always a great start to a conversation."

"It's just that I don't want people coming up and asking for answers to their problems this way; they ruin everything when they do. What I know comes from being a seer. I'm not in their 'social circles', so I don't know what's happened between them in the past, but as things are now, I'm pretty sure I know what the future holds… although part of that future may well be the present by now; they've been friends since before the first curse broke. I found the time to do a nice, long check into Henry's future soon after Cora was defeated."

"And?"

"And while I don't like disclosing information because the future is ever-changing, as things are now, it looks like theirs is true love."

Baelfire blinked in surprise, then a slow smile tugged at his mouth as he processed that before he asked, suddenly looking concerned again, "What part of what you've seen do you think is in the present?"

"That," Rumplestiltskin declared, pointing at Baelfire, "Is part of what I'm  _not_ going to tell you; we'll find out when they want us to."

"But you already know!"

"And they don't know that I know, nor will they find out, because there is an exact group of three who could tell them."

"Three?" Baelfire repeated in confusion.

His father nodded. "Belle asked me about them a couple of months ago, and before you ask, no, I didn't tell her anything more than what I just told you."

Baelfire sighed, half-glaring at his dad, and opened his mouth to respond, but the conversation was brought to an abrupt end when Henry walked into the shop. The boy instantly moved to give his father a one-armed hug then asked Rumplestiltskin, "Is it true that you kind of offered me an after-school job here?"

"I did," Rumplestiltskin answered, coming out from behind the counter. "Are you interested?"

Henry nodded. "If the offer still stands?"

"Of course it does. When would you like to start?"

"I could come by tomorrow, I think."

Rumplestiltskin's smile was genuine for his grandson, as was his comment, as he said, "I can't wait."

"Great! But, um, there's somewhere else I said I'd be, so I probably need to go there now."

Rumplestiltskin nodded in understanding and Baelfire unwound his arm from around his son's shoulders, commenting, "See you later, kid! Hey, how about dinner at Granny's? You and me?"

"Can I invite…" Henry paused, counting in his head, "Four people? You know and at least semi-like them all, I promise."

"Okay… but only if I get to bring Emma"

Henry grinned and then bolted out the door.

Darting from the pawnshop and heading towards Golden Blends, where he had been earlier in the day with Grace, Henry pressed his cell phone to his ear and after a couple of rings, Belle's cheerful voice filtered through. "Library; Belle speaking."

"Hi, Grandmiere, it's Henry. Would you and Grandpa and Arabella want to meet me and Papa for supper at Granny's tonight?"

"We'd be thrilled to!"

"Okay – and, hey, can you ask Grace if she wants to come too?"

"Just a second," the girls' voices on the other end of the phone became muffled for a minute before Belle reported, "She said she'd be just as thrilled to."

Henry's smile widened and he said "thanks! I'll talk to you later" before he ended the call and went the last block to Golden Blends.

"You're back," Milah commented, as Henry once again took a seat at the bar like he had earlier in the day.

"I am," Henry felt his cheeks grow hot as he admitted, "And after our conversation about drawings yesterday, I have something I want to show you."

"Oh?" Milah asked curiously as Henry drew his sketchpad from his backpack.

Henry licked his lips nervously as he flipped to the last drawing he'd done and slid it across the counter towards her. "It's not done yet, but I thought you might want to see it. It's from yesterday."

"Baelfire proposed to Emma yesterday?" Milah asked, feeling more amused then surprised… along with a healthy dose of regret as she was hit again by how much of her son's life she'd missed being a part of.

Again Henry nodded, watching her survey his drawing. He was waiting to find out what her opinion of it was – she should've known that – so she told him, "This is well done. I like it; it's… sweet."

"Thanks," Henry smiled.

"How much time have you spent on this?" Milah asked.

Henry thought for a second. "Close to three hours."

"You work hard on your drawings, don't you?" Milah asked, resisting the urge to flip through the other drawings. Henry nodded and Milah repeated, "This is well done… but I could show you a couple of ways to make it a little better, if you'd like."

Henry grinned, digging a pencil out of his backpack and handing it to her as he answered, "I'd like that."


	5. Chapter 5

"Hey, Grace, over here!" Henry waved Grace over when he saw her come in the door of Granny's and scooted over so that she would have space beside him to sit.

But she didn't take the seat immediately, instead stopping to give Baelfire a long hug as she declared, "It's so good to see you again!'

"You too, kiddo," Baelfire replied with a smile, returning the hug. "What have you been up to?"

"Working with Belle at the library," Grace said as she slid into her seat beside Henry, getting a little irritated with herself at the blush starting to tint her cheeks just because he was near... but after the day they'd had, and the revelation from earlier, she really couldn't help it. "Other then that, just school and hanging out with friends."

"'Friends' plural?" Bae inquired gently, eyeing her. "Last time we talked you didn't really have any that were your age. Has that gotten better?"

"Ah… no. But I have Belle," Grace glanced happily at the woman sitting on her other side as she listed off, "Red, Archie, and Henry."

"Always," Henry said, knocking his shoulder against hers.

He was thrilled that she was here – he always liked having her around – but he hadn't expected it to be this hard to keep his calm after their true love's kiss earlier! He just knew that she'd shown interest in seeing Baelfire again, and had thought this would be a good way to do it. Now he was afraid they were going to be called out on their secret almost before they'd had a chance to keep it!

But then Emma spoke, saying from beside Baelfire, "You know, Grace, I know who you are, but I don't think we've ever been introduced somehow. You can call me Emma."

"Nice to meet you, Emma," Grace said with a sweet smile, simultaneously getting nervous as she thought about what Emma had said.

The woman was right; save for Baelfire and Belle – and earlier today Milah and Mrs. Holt –Grace had never really met any of her true love's family – and now here she was in the middle of a family dinner! This had not been very well thought-out!

Before she could decide what she wanted to do about it – was it possible for her to bow out and go home? – Belle was grabbing the hand of the man sitting on Baelfire's other side – the man who's presence Grace had nearly been  _trying_ to ignore – and saying, "And this is my Rumple. You really have kind of been anti-social, haven't you, Grace?"

Grace didn't know how to tell one of her closest friends that was because she still had reservations about most of them left over from Henry's warnings during the pre-curse days. With Baelfire, she hadn't had time or information enough to think about meeting him, Ruby and Archie had come with high recommendations from Henry, and Ruby had originally pushed hard for Grace to get to know Belle. Beyond those – well, there was only four besides Henry – she  _had_ often tried to avoid personal contact with them. Regina and Mr. Gold had originally been considered dangerous, getting to know the Charmings, Emma, and even the dwarves meant being even closer to whatever issues – and dangers – arose, and people like Dr. Whale and Hook were put in the category of people that Henry referred to as simply "messed up somehow."

But now? Now she was here, Henry was smiling encouragingly and brushing his hand against hers underneath the table, and Baelfire was looking at her in a way that came startlingly close to how he'd looked at Henry in the video from yesterday when he'd finally seen his child again.

 _Wait, what_?

That was a startling thought – that she could consider members of Henry's family as her own family members, that she already  _did_ , but it was a nice thought too, and she relaxed by degrees, reminding herself that since she and Henry shared true love, if things continued in their favor, these people  _would_ be her family one day. Strange thoughts to be running through the mind of a fourteen-year-old, she knew, but she liked them nonetheless.

So she made herself calm down and – purposely bringing some of Paige's social-butterfly-ness to the fore – smiled at Rumplestiltskin when Belle finished their introductions and her question, answering the librarian, "Yeah, but, hey, I'm here now!"

"Right," Henry agreed.

Which reminded her… she turned to Henry and asked, slanting her eyes towards Mr. Gold, "Did you ask about the you know?"

"The job?" Henry grinned. "Yes, I did, and I got it too."

"Of course you did," Grace grinned, knocking her shoulder against his as he'd done, rolling her eyes as she declared, "Let the rumor mill commence!"

From Grace's other side, Belle laughed, saying, "Isn't that what we talked about earlier? That people always talk, regardless of what we do or don't do – or how accurate what they're saying is?"

Grace nodded, and Henry pointed out, "But for the most part, it's been Ruby doing the talking… and Archie and Ruby talking to one another."

"And to me," Belle added impishly.

"Oh, you'd be surprised how many people talk about it," Mr. Gold broke in, glancing teasingly at his son.

Grace whined with embarrassment, trying to burrow her face in Henry's shoulder and when that failed she looked over at Baelfire and accused, "You're supposed to be on our side!"

"Maybe," he said with teasing sweetness, "The people who talk about it  _are_ on your side? Maybe the whole  _idea_ is on your side!"

Grace pretended to pout and Henry threw a balled-up napkin at his father before either teenager said something they'd regret. However, something about the exchange told both of the two teens that at the very least Baelfire knew something that they didn't. Though he hid it well, Grace could see the wheels turning in Henry's head as he tried to figure out  _how_ and  _from whom_  Baelfire might've learned anything; Henry and Grace hadn't even been sure about it until earlier in the day!


	6. Chapter 6

On her part, Grace flashed back to the way Belle had looked at her earlier when she'd asked about true love. Oh no… Belle knew too! She barely refrained from sighing, or at least hitting her head against the back of the booth.

But then she wondered  _did it even really matter if they knew_? If they knew that meant that they believed it, right? And apparently it was only those two – or maybe three, considering the expression Mr. Gold had worn – who knew about it yet. So why not? Why did that have to be a big deal? They didn't seem inclined to come out and say anything about it directly, and it wasn't like Grace was anywhere near ashamed of it, anyway, so why not?

Calming back down, she squeezed Henry's hand underneath the table to get his attention and shook her head minutely when he looked at her, wordlessly telling him for once not to bother with trying to sort out the puzzle. Then she relaxed back into the booth and struck up a conversation with Emma, allowing herself to be drawn into Henry's family… into the core of his world.

At the end of the evening, Emma told her that she should come over to her parents' place for dinner one night that week. Belle asked how she would feel about sharing lunch at the shop with Mr. Gold and Henry the next day that Grace helped out at the library over the weekend, which would also be Henry's first day at the pawnshop.

And despite her earlier near-panic attack, Grace left the diner with a smile and kept right on smiling as she rode her bike home in the cool Maine evening and even once she was in bed for the night. This had arguably been the single most hectic day of her life, but she had learned a lot… and Paige was thrilled to death with the revelation that not only had she made a couple of new friends – yes, even Mr. Gold had been surprisingly polite – but that she might also have quite a few more awaiting her. She wasn't happy just because she'd figured out that she had true love – though that was still a huge part of it – but also because she had, for the first time since the curse broke, truly come to a place where she felt like she had a family. It wasn't just her and Papa – or even her and Henry – up against the world; sitting there in the diner, she realized that she had an entire network of people that she could rely on now… and that meant the world to her.

* * *

"Hey, Mom," Henry asked, stepping into the Mills' sitting room two days later. "Can you help me with this… thing?"

Regina turned from where she and Daniel were curled up in front of the fireplace to look at her son standing in the doorway wearing a suit and holding the edge of a tie like it might bite him. "Wow, look at you all dressed up!"

"What's the occasion?" Daniel inquired as Regina unwound herself from his arms and moved across the room to assist Henry.

Henry looked Daniel dead in the eye and said, as if to remind the two adults of something they should already know, "I'm getting married." Regina froze in the middle of the room, but Daniel merely barked a laugh – which had obviously been the reaction Henry had anticipated as he hurried to reassure his mom, " _Work_  – with Grandpa, at the shop. He said that if I was going to learn the family business, I would have to represent the family business… which would be fine if it didn't involve wearing a tie."

Regina chuckled – as much at herself as at Henry – and tied his tie, saying, "Well, I think that you look very handsome."

She almost added that she was pretty sure that his potential "bride" would agree, but there were already so many people who had started asking questions about Grace, that she decided not to jump on the "teasing him about it" bandwagon. So her son simply smiled, thanked her, told both her and Daniel he would see them later and headed for his first day of work with his grandfather.

Regina sighed and dropped back onto the couch beside her fiancé, saying, "I'm glad you two have gotten along so well these past couple of days he's spent with us."

"Me too, I gave him a riding lesson yesterday on that pony that he said David gave him, and I quote, 'forever ago'" Daniel answered, pulling her back into his arms and asking, "What's the matter?"

"Nothing really, he just makes me feel old sometimes."

"Why?"

"My baby's fourteen! And that thing about getting married!"

"It was just a joke, Ginny."

"For now," Regina groused. "What happens in four years when I have no say and Grace is still around him?"

"Come on, they've got better sense then that."

"We didn't," Regina pointed out, burrowing further into him as she reminded, "We were going to elope at nineteen!"

"And your mother set us straight, now didn't she?"

Regina snorted. "If that's what you want to call it."

Daniel kissed her hair, saying soothingly, "My point is, I think you're over-thinking things again."

"Grace has started meeting the family," Regina said, trying to prove her point. "She had dinner with the Golds – including Baelfire – and Emma a couple evenings ago, and Snow called while I was at the office today and asked if we wanted to come over to their apartment for dinner tonight. Grace is on the guest list for that too." She mumbled, "What if they've already found true love in each other and we just don't know it?"

"Ginny, I love you," Daniel chuckled, "But your thinking about this far too much! How could a couple of teenagers know that they have true love?!"

Regina glared petulantly up at him, reminding him – again, "We did."

"Indeed, we did," Daniel smiled, giving up on talking her out of her fears and deciding to kiss them away instead.


	7. Chapter 7

"Mm, lunch!" Henry said when Belle and Grace came into the pawnshop that afternoon.

"Well, we see how we rank, don't we, Grace?" Belle teased. "Two pretty girls traipse in, and the men are more worried about the sandwiches!"

"Typical," Grace drawled.

"I didn't say anything of the sort," Rumplestiltskin pointed out with a smile, going to take the basket from Belle and give his wife a kiss. "I am perfectly  _thrilled_ to see 'two pretty girls traipse in.'"

Rumplestiltskin even spared Grace a friendly smile, and Grace returned the gesture because in that moment – in this setting – she let Paige's extroverted self take over, and that's what Paige would do. It wasn't that Rumplestiltskin  _scared_ her, necessarily – especially not after the dinner at Granny's – it was just that she had seen and heard too much about him over the years to be anything better than uneasy around him yet. She had a feeling that was part of why Belle had suggested the four of them share lunch; the librarian was eager to integrate her into Henry's winding family. Honestly, the sorcerer's friendliness was helping the situation quite a bit, even if it did surprise her.

"That's not fair; you're supposed to be on my side, Grandpa!" Henry objected.

"Ah, no," Rumplestiltskin objected, his tone still light and teasing, "Surely you've heard the saying 'happy wife; happy life'? It is entirely true." Grace and Belle chuckled, Henry grinned, and Rumplestiltskin asked his wife, "Where's Arabella?"

"Granny and Ruby kidnapped her for an hour earlier," Belle grinned. "Be patient, Papa; I told Ruby that I would be here when she was ready to drop her off."

As if at the sound of her name, Ruby walked into the shop, carrying a baby car seat containing Arabella. Grace was rather amused, not to mention further surprised, by how quickly Rumplestiltskin moved to take the baby in his arms.

"What?" Rumplestiltskin asked once Ruby had disappeared and the pawnbroker had turned towards a triad of amused expressions. "I happen to like little ones."

"Do you now?" Belle asked cheerfully.

"You knew that already," Rumplestiltskin reminded her.

"Yes," she chuckled, pointing out, "But I don't think those two did."

Belle and Rumplestiltskin both turned towards Henry and Grace who were rapidly attempting to change their surprised expressions to something more neutral.

An amused smile twitched at the edged of Rumplestiltskin's mouth as he remarked, "I'm not  _always_ horrible."

No, Grace realized, surprised with how deeply she felt the certainty of this, he wasn't – not now… not that Baelflire had returned. It struck her then that in a very big way he was a lot like her own father – simply hurting too much over their own child until things were back to the way they wanted them. Then they were fine. Rumplestiltskin was fine. Right now, he was even being… nice.

And with that thought in mind, she was actually able to relax… and notice how nice Henry looked in the suit that she was pretty sure Mr. Gold had ordered him into. One of the two males had good taste anyway, even if she could tell that Henry didn't like the get-up.

Belle began to unpack the basket's contents, placing them on the table as she said, "I thought we could use some of the paper plates I left here last week;" she looked between Henry and Grace, asking, "Do one of you two want to go get four from the back room?"

Henry motioned Grace to follow him back behind the curtain, and as soon as they were out of sight of Belle and Rumplestiltskin, Henry hissed, "I figured out why Grandpa, Grandmiere, and Papa said those things about us at Granny's that they did. Grandpa's a seer; I'd bet you anything he already knows about us – and Grandmiere and Papa are the most likely ones he would tell!"

"That's okay, isn't it?" Grace asked gently, wondering if perhaps he was ashamed of what they had.

"Of course it's okay for them to know about it," Henry assured her, seeing the look on her face as he grabbed the plates that Belle had asked for. "I just hope they're careful about who they talk about it with for now."

"They will be I'm sure."

Henry nodded uncertainly, saying, "I just thought you might want to know what I figured was going on behind the scenes there."

"Yeah; thanks," Grace whispered, smiling as she leaned forward and gave him a lightning fast peck on the lips, declaring, "And hey, the suit looks awesome on you; I definitely like the tie."

Henry blushed to the roots of his hair, muttering, "Of course you would."

"Does that make the torture of having to wear it more bearable?" she teased, both of them still keeping their voices down.

"Maybe…" Henry drawled, blushing even harder.

"Did you find the plates?" Belle asked, sticking her head in and looking shrewdly at the two of them as if she was trying to figure out what they'd actually been doing – and knowing Belle, that was exactly what she was doing.

"Yeah," Grace said, playing off her surprise at the intrusion much easier than Henry did. "Come on," she said to him with a small laugh, grabbing the end of his tie and pulling him into the front of the shop behind her and Belle.

* * *

Grace took a deep breath to calm her nervousness and knocked on the door of the Charmings' apartment that evening. Despite Paige's ever present excitement at new people, that was the exact same reason that Grace was nearing panic – it was always strange like this when she met new people, Paige was excited; Grace was uncertain, but not usually was the uncertainty at such an extreme!

Henry opened the door saying cheerfully, "You came!"

"Emma invited me when we were at Granny's, remember?" she said a little sharply.

"Yeah," he replied, searching her face for a reason behind her tone, and then his expression changed as he saw through to her nerves. He stepped out of the apartment and closed the door behind himself, laying a hand on her arm as he said, "Don't be nervous; it's just more of my family."

"Which is why I'm nervous! I still haven't met over half the people who are in there!"


	8. Chapter 8

Nah," Henry said casually. "It's just Mama, Gramps and Gran, Neal, and Mom and… Daniel," Henry paused, his eyebrows drawing together as he said, "Dad, whoever he is, whatever I end up calling him."

"How did that go, by the way?" Grace asked, relieved to find a reason to prolong going into the apartment. "The last couple of days with Mayor Mills and Daniel?"

"Good," Henry reported happily. "I think you'll like him. Ruby was right. He's really a great guy and a nice balance for Mom. He makes her happy."

"Which in turn makes you happy," Grace said, smiling at how sweet that was. Her poor true love really was a mama's boy when it came down to it – which wasn't a bad thing, considering that he'd had two for around the past four years.

"M-hm," Henry agreed, grabbing her wrist – she noticed that he seemed to go for her wrist instead of outright grabbing her hand, like Pan had, which she thought was really sweet in a way, and so  _Henry_ – and declaring, "But what would make me even happier is if you came inside and met my family."

She knew she was  _this_ close to glaring at him, and he knew to blame it all on her feeling out of her comfort zone as she said, "I'm trusting you big time here."

"It will be okay, I promise, It's just my family… and quite frankly, the more sane side of my family."

"Does that include the mayor?"

"Well, when you think about it as her on this side and Rumplestiltskin on Papa's side…"

"Yeah, okay. But Zelena's on this side of the family too!"

Henry winced, acquiescing, "Fine; neither side of my family is particularly sane, but all the  _real_ crazies on this side of the family are  _dead_. Satisfied?"

"Ask me after the night's over," Grace replied, taking a deep breath and steeling herself again and Henry took that as his cue that she was ready to go in.

* * *

Snow White had noticed Henry slip out the door and talk to their last guest to arrive the moment Grace had shown up, and three thoughts hit her the moment they came in together. Three adjectives, really.

Henry and Grace together were so:

Sweet.

Cute.

And  _obvious_.

Though she really thought that they were  _trying_ to hide it, two awkward fourteen year olds in love didn't hide much very well at all. Even Emma had noticed and reported that the two of them had been constantly touching underneath the table at Granny's – ankles crossing, elbows brushing, sitting shoulder to shoulder – without apparently even meaning to… or noticing it very often. Even now, as they came in the door, Grace was half leaning her head on Henry's shoulder, half trying to hide behind him.

The poor girl was so nervous!

Maybe there was a way they could ease her into the gathering…? Snow looked around until she caught Emma's eye where her daughter was standing, cooing at Neal with Regina, and motioned her over.

Looping her arm through Emma's, Snow nodded towards where Henry and Grace were still lingering by the now-closed door, asking softly, "Would you want to introduce me?"

Emma blinked at her, then she must've realized some of what Snow was thinking because her eyes lit with understanding and she smiled before the two of them walked over to the duo by the door.

"Hey, Grace, nice to see you again," Emma said casually, then prompted, "You can take your jacket off and stick around if you want."

"Here," Henry said, sliding the jacket off of Grace's shoulders and moving out of the girl's arms-reach to hang it up.

Grace moved to follow him even that far, and Snow stopped her by saying, "I'm Snow White… I think you may have been a student in my class before the curse broke. Paige, right?"

Grace smiled hesitantly, but when Snow said her cursed name, it seemed like a reminder of sorts and in the next instant it was nearly like the girl had flipped a switch – and the happy girl that emerged was exactly like the child who had been in Miss Blanchard's class. That's when Snow knew; Grace had a coping mechanism of sorts in Paige.

Though Grace had moved onto a new class by the time Snow returned to teaching, Snow had noticed her around town a few of times and while Snow White hadn't talked to the girl before now, per se, Mary Margaret had "learned" her students well before the curse broke.  _Paige_ was a very extroverted girl who liked being surrounded by people who were liked, who were popular. Before the curse broke, Paige had been on the fringes of "the popular crowd" herself. After the curse, when  _Grace_  had popped up and started advertizing that her father was the Mad Hatter… she'd become not so popular. Grace seemed shy and withdrawn, preferring to be in her own little corner with her own little crowd. Much like Paige, in a twisted sort of way, just with better motives and reasoning behind it.

Snow caught the moment that Henry turned back around to look at Grace, and she saw in her grandson's eyes that he recognized the flipped switch – recognized the girl who honestly hadn't always been kind to him back when they were ten. Yet he still grinned at the sight of her talking to Snow and Emma, and when he stepped back to her side, he moved close enough that their elbows were touching and Snow watched as whatever tension had been left in Grace's shoulders eased. Even when in "Paige mode," Grace liked Henry and now even wanted him nearby. So maybe the split between the two personalities wasn't as blatant as Snow had first thought. Though, they were still adorable together regardless.

After all, Snow was pretty sure that she'd never seen Henry smile so much in one evening for no real reason – so his reason must've been Grace's presence. And as she watched her former student carefully throughout the evening, Snow could see the girl getting so comfortable in the apartment – and with this side of Henry's family – that Paige was able to recede back into the background and they got the opportunity to get to know  _Grace_.

And they all seemed to genuinely like what they saw.

* * *

The last to arrive, Grace was also the first to have to leave so that she could ride her bike home. Henry walked her out of the apartment building and they stood by her bike for a minute, talking before he went inside.

"So," he started with a soft smile.

"Needle," Grace blurted.

"Ha-ha. Was it as bad as you thought it was going to be?"

"No," Grace admitted. "You were right, I did like Daniel; he even offered to give me a riding lesson or two if I could talk you into letting me borrow your pony."

"I think we could do that," Henry agreed. "What did you think about the others?"

"They were nice."

"Even Mom?" he asked, feigning shock. "And the ever so intimidating  _Charmings_?!"

She rolled her eyes at his antics, drawling, "Yes, Henry, even them."

"Who does that leave left for you to meet then?" Henry thought aloud. "Hook – I heard he's already started mellowing since Grandma came back to him – the dwarves, and maybe even Frederick."

Grace groaned at the very idea of meeting  _more_ people – even Paige cringed at the idea of the pirate – and Henry stifled a laugh, apologizing, "Sorry, but this is just what happens when you become a part of my world – which you are."

She burrowed into his arms in the light of dusk, pretending to pout as she muttered, "This had better be worth it."

"It will be," he promised, pulling away to let her get on her bike before he dropped a quick kiss on her cheek. "One of these days, it will be."


	9. Chapter 9

And somehow that was the end of the beginning.

Henry made sure to introduce Grace to the dwarves by the end of the week – god bless her, she was so sweet she even liked  _Dopey_  – and he dragged her into Golden Blends the day after when they noticed Hook and Frederick sitting at the counter, talking to their respective true loves.

She was included in the wedding planning for all  _three_ of the weddings that occurred in his family over the next year, and when a fourth wedding – Red and Archie's – came up,  _both_  teens were asked to be in the bridal party, not just Henry as had been the case in two of the others. No, Red insisted, she absolutely  _did not_  purposely arrange it so that Henry and Grace were paired together in the procession. "Liar," Henry had accused openly. Red had laughed, and Henry had a very difficult time continuing to act like he actually  _minded_ as much as he  _should_ have. After all, it was at some point during the planning of Ruby and Archie's wedding that Henry had finally asked Grace out on a proper date – at fifteen which was still young, yes, but better then thirteen or eleven, right? – and Jefferson had only groused a very little bit when he heard about it. When they heard about it, Rumplestiltskin, Belle, and Baelfire had all just given them that  _look_. Emma, Ruby, and Granny had laughed outright, and the rest of the family had acted like it was just run of the mill – save for Leroy, who had looked Henry dead in the eye and asked, "You mean you haven't taken her out before now?"

And when on their fourth semi-official date, Grace had scraped up her courage and said softly, "There's something I need to tell you… something Pan did while in your body," Henry had held her while she told him, wiped away her tears that neither of them had expected, apologized for the deception and hurt Pan had caused her, and assured her that he wasn't bothered by her part in it. That moment, curled together on a picnic blanket in an empty stall of the stables, neither one of them caring that she was practically in his lap while she bared her soul and he held her through it… that may not have been their starting point, but it was certainly the moment that it became real. What they each felt for the other became permanent and irreplaceable, and they had never loved one another more.

Yet, as true love was prone to do, their bond grew stronger as time continued to pass.

* * *

_A Year and A Half Later_

"Don't be nervous," Henry said soothingly from where he was leaning on the white picket fence outside Granny's watching Grace pace on the sidewalk.

"I swear on your life, if you say that one more time I will jackknife you in the throat," Grace snapped, whipping to face him. "That is  _all_ you have said to me for the past week!"

"Because all you have said to  _me_ for the past week is freaking out about this," Henry pointed out, moving to stand in front of her as he gestured to Granny's and the people inside who were here for her seventeenth birthday party.

The day that they had chosen years ago to reveal to his family – the family that she'd come to consider her own – what they were.

And she reminded him of that, saying, "We've been waiting for this day for years; what if they don't believe us or take us seriously?"

"Grace… you do realize that most of the people in there have had this figured out forever, right? The only person who might even mildly throw a fit is your dad, and I am entirely prepared to deal with him if I need to."

"He brought his hat," Grace muttered. "The one he managed to get working for portals. What if he already knows and plans on sending you through a portal to, I don't know, Wonderland or Oz?"

"I thought of that," Henry assured her with a cheeky smile. "Which is why I have a bean from Tiny stuck in my pocket."

Grace snorted, then moaned, then laughed as she threw her forehead down onto his shoulder. "Glad to know you're as nervous as I am."

"Maybe," Henry allowed. "But my parents are all planners – except for maybe Dad; a stableman doesn't have much of a reason to plan big-deal things like this – which means that I was raised to do the same thing, and I have. We will be fine; everything and everyone will be fine. They already know we're dating, and have been for almost two years, remember?"

"I know."

"Then what's the big deal?" he asked, tilting her head so she met his eyes as he asked, "Have you thought that maybe this is just Paige having a little freak out?"

Grace stuck her tongue out at him and Henry took that to mean that he'd hit the nail on the head. She dropped her head back down onto his shoulder and took a deep, muttering, "This is going to be seriously anticlimactic, isn't it?"

"Uh-huh," he nodded, by now used to dealing with her occasional dramatics.

"They're all going to say that they've known for years, and they're hungry, so let's cut the cake already?"

"Those are probably going to be Leroy's exact words," he deadpanned.

Grace snorted and straightened up, grabbing his wrist as a smile played about her face. He smiled to see it, and slid his hand so that their fingers were intertwined as he brushed her dark blonde hair away from her face and gave her a quick kiss, asking softly, "Ready?"

She nodded, agreeing, "It's now or never."

And, as predicted, they were eating cake no less than four minutes later. Sitting at the bar and digging into their deserts, Henry grinned pointedly and she narrowed her eyes at him, knowing what he was going to say and daring him to do it before he sassed her, declaring, "See, I told you it would be anticlimactic."


	10. Chapter 10

For a lot of reasons, Regina loved the month of May… so long as she could survive the first week of the month. May was the month that contained the end of the school year, which often led to more time with her son than she would otherwise have. May meant that the cold days finally started disappearing for good until September – give or take – but May fourth had also come to mean the anniversary of the death of the sister that she'd never truly gotten to know.

But she'd known the look in Zelena's eyes when they'd talked that one time in the sheriff's station. Then – in the hours before Rumplestiltskin had killed her – Zelena had been broken, defeated… and someone who wished to take a different path.

Of course, Rumplestiltskin had taken that option from her.

But Regina had a plan… and now, standing silently in the Enchanted Forest, just taking the moment in, she had the means to carry it out on the exact anniversary of her sister's death. A bean in her pocket, an ogre magically frozen three feet away from her, and a spell memorized and locked away in her mind. Just like Emma and Rumple had done it years ago.

Storybrooke had been experiencing a rather long stretch of peace since Zelena's defeat – except for those couple of weeks when two literal ice queens had blown in, but that problem had been solved easily enough without conflict between any of Storybrooke's actual residents – and Regina wasn't disillusioned. She knew that bringing Zelena back to life and back to Storybrooke might very well unleash hell and put those promises made to Snow in the exact same place, but it wasn't the first time Storybrooke had experienced such a thing. All she wanted to do was give her sister – one of her very few blood relatives – a second chance. Every one deserved that much, right?

It was with that thought firmly in mind that she cast the spell, flinching as the ogre disintegrated into thin air, and then joyfully realizing that in the spot where the ogre had been lying on the ground, a human figure was crouched with a dark green cloak covering her from head to toe.

"Zelena!" Regina cried, falling to her knees in front of her sister.

"Wha-" Zelena gasped, looking down at her own hands like she'd never seen them before. Then it registered: "Regina!" she yelped, falling onto her back and scrambling away a couple of feet in terror.

"No, no, no!" Regina put her hands up, showing that she didn't mean to be a threat, but Zelena cringed away, probably expecting a fireball to come flying at her. Regina snapped her hands into fists and lowered them into her lap, declaring gently, "Zelena, I'm not here to hurt you. I brought you back to life to  _help_  you – to give you that second chance we talked about the last time I saw you."

"Why?" Zelena asked, the terror in her eyes morphing into suspicion.

Regina shrugged. "Because you're my sister? Because I can? Because I promised you a second chance, and I think you deserve it, so you're going to get it."

Zelena narrowed her eyes, asking predictably, " _What if I don't want it_?"

"'Now'," Regina quoted, still meaning every word as much as the last time she'd said it. "'That would be a mistake, dear.' 'Because if you don't' want it, 'I'll be right here to take your heart and crush it.' But the thing is I still believe that 'evil isn't born, it's made… and so is good.' So if you don't want the second chance you're being offered, that's fine. I'll crush your heart right here without you ever having to leave this spot. If you want to live, you'll do so by coming back to Storybrooke and living with me and my family."

Zelena stared at her for a long moment, too many thoughts running through her eyes for Regina to process them all, but she knew hope and despondency warring when she saw it. "No one's going to want me there," Zelena declared factually.

"I want you there."

Zelena's gaze raked over her younger sister and stopped at the wedding ring Regina now wore as she asked, "Why?"

"I already answered that question – because you're my family."

"Last time I saw you, it looked like you had plenty of family in the Charmings," Zelelna drawled.

"Yes, but they're only related through a marriage that I didn't even want; you're my blood."

"Through Cora, which is hardly better than King whatever-his-name-was."

"It was Leopold… and you're probably right. But why not give Storybrooke a try. You may find that it grows on you."

"I doubt it."

"But you could still try. Henry's seventeen now. Snow and Charming's son is four. Baelfire came back to life with the same spell that I just used for you, and he married Emma almost three years ago, not long after I got married – to Daniel, the 'love of my life' that I mentioned to you, who also came back to life. Rumplestiltskin and Belle are raising Belle's resurrected daughter, and she's around three. Is there anything else that might be pertinent information to you?"

"Where's Rumple's dagger?" Zelena asked immediately.

Regina scoffed. "I'm not stupid enough to tell you that."

"No, I mean  _does he have it_  – the real one? There's no use in me returning to Storybrooke if he's simply going to kill me again on sight."

"The fake disappeared during an ice queen ordeal a couple of years back, and no, to my knowledge, he doesn't have the real one. He really has changed over the years, especially once Baelfire returned… and I think he's really determined to be a better father to Arabella from the very beginning of her life."

"That's helpful, then," Zelena muttered thoughtfully.

So Regina asked, "Why? Are you actually planning on coming back with me?"

"Are you actually planning on killing me if I don't?"

Regina arched her eyebrows, asking cryptically, "What do you think?"

Zelena stared at her, trying to access, until she eventually admitted, "I'm not sure what I think of you right now. I guess I'll have to come with you and figure it out."


	11. Chapter 11

There really was no easy way to do this, Regina knew, but she had figured out a few ways to make it… possibly less explosive. For one, she had found a way to magically ensure that they landed in the middle of the woods upon their return to Storybrooke – nowhere near the public where Zelena could be spotted before either one of them was ready to deal with that backlash.

The two of them stumbled when they landed, automatically reaching for one another to stay upright, and as soon as Regina had her breath back, she teleported them into her house.

Zelena yelped at the unexpected second change in location and when the two of them had righted themselves again, she snapped, "Why didn't you just direct the portal to bring us here?"

"Because I didn't want the giant, gaping hole that would open to a) break my house or b) be seen by the public. No one but no one knows that you're in town, and that's probably for the best until I can figure out what we do next. You'll be safe here until further notice."

"You mean you really didn't think that far ahead?"

"I  _really_ thought that you wouldn't take the second chance," Regina admitted, turning to her sister as she said softly, "But I'm glad you did." Zelena's eyes darted to and fro, uncertain but trying not to look it as Regina said, "We're alone for now. Henry's at school and he's spending the night with Baelfire and Emma anyway. Daniel won't be home from the stable for a couple more hours."

"Still a stable boy, is he?" Zelena queried, walking into the living room and staring at a wall of photos that had grown substantially since she'd last been in the white room.

Regina followed her, shrugging as she replied, "It's what he enjoys."

"And what about you?" Zelena asked. "Do you really  _enjoy_ having all of these people pry into your life?"

Regina smiled sadly at her sister, saying, "I do. They're my family, and maybe they'll learn to be yours too. That is what you always wanted, wasn't it? A family to love you as their own?"

Zelen glared at Regina as the mayor came to stand beside her then asked, "You mean to tell me that they all like you now?"

Regina paused for a moment before she nodded, then began to point to people in the pictures. "That's Daniel. This was taken on our wedding day. Hasn't Henry gotten so big?"

Zelena's eyes still weren't remaining on any one thing for long at all, but she stopped to register her nephew's image and nod, murmuring, "He has."

"And that's a Charming family portrait."

"But you and Daniel are in it," Regina blurted.

"We are," Regina nodded tolerantly, a small smile playing about her mouth as she explained. "Snow and I have healed a lot of the mess between the two of us in the past years. In a weird sort of way, she's taken to me as the stepmother I could've been originally. I love this photo."

Zelena nearly whispered the question, "So that's the baby on her lap?"

Regina nodded slowly, supplying, "Neal."

"Is this Rumplestiltskin's daughter?" Zelena asked, quickly moving onto a different picture. "What's her name?"

"She's his stepdaughter from a previous engagement of Belle's, Arabella."

"I didn't know Belle had been otherwise attached?"

"Not by choice," Regina said, eyebrows rising again. "From what I know, it was an arranged marriage from the Enchanted Forest that Rumple got in the way of way back when. Arabella had been dead nearly thirty-five years when he and Emma brought her back with the other three."

"Other three?" Zelena repeated. "You only mentioned three total."

Another smirk came onto Regina's face as she pointed to a woman in a photo that hadn't been done professionally. "The fourth one was Milah, Rumple's ex-wife, Captain Hook's current one."

Zelena snorted, muttering, "Well, that certainly explains some things." Then she cocked her head to the side and asked, "What are all of those machines around them?"

"They're for making coffee, smoothies, and stuff," Regina answered, eyeing the photo of Kathryn and Milah leaning up against the counter of Golden Blends.

"What are those?"

"Drinks."

Zelena nodded, now apparently thoroughly immersed in the photos as she pointed to a Kodak of Henry and asked, " _What_ is on his head?"

Regina nearly laughed. "It's called a mortarboard; that was at his middle school graduation. It's just a tradition in a number of the countries here that students wear them at their graduations."

"Looks like a stupid tradition," Zelena muttered before asking, "Who's the girl beside him?"

Regina took a deep breath, letting it out as she declared, "Grace Samuels… his true love."

"You seem utterly thrilled with that," Zelena said sarcastically, glancing at her sister.

"I don't mind," Regina replied with a shrug. "She's a great girl… but he's my baby."

"And I'm sure he always will be," Zelena offered.

Regina smiled, answering, "Of course," as she watched Zelena move onto another photo… and then pale drastically. She jumped instinctively forward, stopping just short of touching Zelena as the redhead took a shaky step back.

"Who is that man?" Zelena asked in a thick voice, pointing to one of the most recent photos to take up residence on the wall – Henry, Grace, and Jefferson at the girl's seventeenth birthday party.

"Jefferson Samuels," Regina answered hesitantly. "He's Grace's father."

"Henry's Grace is baby Grace? Jefferson's Grace?  _Jefferson_?"

"Zelena, hey, look at me and calm down; you're not making any sense," Regina all but begged, trying to get her sister to sit down before passed out.

The other woman jerked instinctively out of Regina's grasp and kept right on staring at Jefferson's face in that photo, demanding, "Where is he now?"

Ignoring the question, Regina ordered, "Sit down and tell me what you're thinking.  _What_ is going on? Do you know Jefferson?"


	12. Chapter 12

Zelena took a deep breath and nodded, allowing herself to be guided into a chair as she closed her eyes… and to Regina's great surprise, a single tear slipped from the corner of her eye. "Yes, I knew him. I met him once in Oz, as I was going to see the wizard. I was upset and not watching where I was going as I left my father's house crying and I ran into him. He, ah, saw I was upset and cheered me up a bit, convinced me to let him walk with me towards the wizard. We didn't even have twenty-four hours together… but I really think it was love at first sight. I regretted getting up the next morning and walking away from him even while I was doing it… but he had a wife and a newborn, and leaving him so that he would go back to them was the last decent thing I ever remember doing."

"Oh,  _Zelena_ ," Regina said pityingly, not even thinking about it as she sat down beside her sister and drew her into her arms.

Though Regina had half expected Zelena would break down and sob, she did the opposite, pulling herself together and drying her tears… but miraculously staying where she was in Regina's embrace as she asked suddenly, "Where is he now?"

Regina took a deep breath. "He and Grace live near the edge of town."

"What about his wife?"

"She left him around the same time you met him."

Zelena bolted upright and Regina hated knowing she would need to crush the hope in her sister's eyes as she asked, "So maybe-" Then her entire face fell as she saw the expression her little sister wore. "No," she realized, voice breaking. "There's not a 'maybe' even now, is there? Not after everything that I've done."

Right before Regina's eyes, Zelena shattered – not physically, as she had before, but in a way that was far more painful. "I've lost him forever," the redhead sobbed, falling into her sister's arms, and in that horrible moment, Regina saw a wonderful thing. Hard as the blow to get her there had been, Regina saw a woman who instantly repented of everything she'd done, who would do anything to take it back… to make it right.

* * *

Well over an hour passed before Regina was comfortable leaving Zelena's side, even for as long as it took to hang up her sister's cloak and brew her a cup of tea.

"Here," Regina pressed the mug into her sister's hands where she sat woodenly on the couch. "Drink or you'll get dehydrated."

Zelena scoffed and Regina half expected her to throw the offering at the wall. Instead, she obediently raised the cup to her lips and sipped. She didn't have it in her to fight anything right now, Regina realized, and couldn't decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing. She knew it most definitely meant that the other woman wouldn't cause trouble, but surely Zelena understood that she was going to have to fight some sort of war if she wanted to ultimately be accepted here in Storybrooke? If she didn't have the will to fight for that then she probably was as good as dead.

Maybe, Regina mused, staring worriedly at vacant her older sister, she was dead already in some ways.

But, no, Regina knew what she had seen in Zelena's eyes once she'd gotten into looking at the pictures, before she'd noticed the one of Jefferson. She had gotten relaxed, and she had genuinely cared about what Regina had shared about the people in her life. She'd  _wanted_ to be a part of it… and if Zelena wasn't ready to fight for it for herself yet, then Regina would just have to fight for her until she was ready to take on the battle herself.

That was a decision made with no time to spare, too, because Regina heard the door of the house open and Daniel called out, "Ginny, I'm home!"

Zelena paled, eyes snapping up to Regina as she lowered her mug,  _help me_  scrawled plainly in the light orbs.

"Wait here," Regina whispered, pressing a hand to her sister's shoulder as she moved around the couch and went into the entryway.

"Hey, sweetheart," Daniel said, kissing her with a smile. "How's your day been?"

"Good… interesting. Yours?"

"Fine."

"Hey, listen, Daniel… we have a visitor – ah, more like a new," Regina winced. This part she really should've thought out more. "…Resident?"

"Someone is moving into our house?"

Regina bit her lip, asking, "You remember I mentioned having a sister?"

Daniel's mouth slowly dropped open as he recalled, "A crazy one who tried to kill half the town."

"That wasn't the goal," a hesitant voice said from the living room doorway and Regina's eyelids fluttered closed at the unexpected intrusion. "I just wanted a better life for myself… a family. But… if you want me to leave, I'm sure-"

Zelena moved to head towards the door, but Regina stepped in her path, declaring, "We both know if you leave and just  _appear_ out there, you'll die. You don't have any powers now;  _anyone_  could kill you." Regina cast a desperate glance at Daniel, who groaned, putting his head in his hands as his wife told him, "She needs our help if she's to survive here."

"Speaking of 'survive,' he said sharply, lifting his head to eye Regina. "She didn't. She's supposed to be dead! Are you telling me  _you_ instigated all of this  _behind my back_?!"

"Daniel-"

"Yes or no?!"

"Yes!" Regina choked out, "But only because I knew that the only way I might get your support in this is if you saw her, met her! She  _wants_ to change, but we'll have to  _help_! By themselves, no one can do what she's being asked to, but if we support her, it'll work! You heard her; she wants a family!  _I'm_ the only family she's got right now!  _Please_ , Daniel, give this a chance!"


	13. Chapter 13

"Regina!" Daniel cried, grabbing her shoulders and nearly shaking her to get her to stop her tirade, and when she did, he lowered his voice. "Stop! I'm not happy about this, and I'm one of the people that she's going to have to prove herself to… but I trust you. If you think that Zelena can change, then I'll give her a chance. But next time you want to do something big like this,  _promise_ me you'll talk to me  _beforehand_."

"Of course," Regina murmured, feeling utter  _waves_ of relief course through her as Daniel gave her a gentle kiss. He was angry with her, and hurt, but he was going to let Zelena stay… and things would eventually be okay.

* * *

Zelena ran. When Daniel raised his voice and screamed at Regina, Zelena didn't know what to do, but she knew that it was her fault, so she wheeled and ran up a staircase, not knowing where it would lead and not really caring. Once on the second-floor landing, she shoved open a random door and dropped onto a bed, beginning to sob when she was unable to escape the noise of Regina screaming her reply at Daniel.

She had thought that she was all out of tears for at least a little while, but then it looked like she was going to ruin not only her own chance at true love, but also her little sister's, and that wasn't what she wanted. Not now, not anymore, not after the afternoon she'd had. She wouldn't be able to stand herself if Regina giving her a second chance backfired on her little sister. Regina was right; they were the only blood relatives that one another had, and that meant that she would – that she wanted to – get this second chance right… if for no other reason than to try and make up for what she'd done.

There were no redoes in life; she'd learned that the hard way last time she'd been in Storybrooke, but maybe there could be… penance. Maybe… but why not just take the route that was even easier than that?

Jefferson was just across town, but there was no use in Zelena going to see him; Regina was downstairs, potentially putting down the first real cracks in her marriage… and both of those things were Zelena's fault.

Why had she done it? Why had she been so… ridiculous as to believe that she could  _turn back time_?

Why, for that matter, had Regina bothered to bring her back to life – apparently after four years – if she knew there was going to be an implosion like this?

Zelena took deep breaths, trying to contain her sobs and access her situation. A window. There was a window that she could jump out of. Now that Regina had actually spent some time with her, and they had gotten to know one another in some small ways, Zelena wondered now more than earlier if her sister would be incapable of actually killing her. But if the jump from a second-story window didn't do the job, then she could find her way into town; there were any number of people there who would probably try it.

She moved to push herself up off of the bed, registering a blue patchwork quilt underneath her fingers… and there were comic books and clothes spread around. Henry's room. She was going to commit suicide by jumping through the window of Henry's room.

"Hey," Regina said softly from the doorway.

Zelena jumped, realizing belatedly that she had only been  _just about_ to stand, and Regina couldn't  _read her thoughts._ She didn't know what plan she'd interrupted, just that her big sister was sitting on her son's bed and looking around the room.

Regina queried, "You okay?"

"Are you?"

"Oh yeah," Regina said, sitting down on the bed beside her and waving a hand like she and Daniel argued like that all the time when both of them knew that wasn't the case. "He'll get over it; his temper never lasts. That's why he's so good for me… why he's just all around  _good_ , actually." Zelena stared down at her hands, honestly wishing that she could just be  _dead again._ Then Regina grabbed her hand, squeezing hard as she demanded, "Promise me three weeks – just until Henry gets out of school – and if you still don't want to be here, then… we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

"I-" Zelena started, looking into Regina's dark eyes and trying to formulate the words to refuse even that.

" _Promise me_."

"I promise," Zelena whispered.

"Thank you," Regina breathed the words with such relief that Zelena briefly wondered if maybe she  _had_ known what had been going through the redheads mind. "So, ah, how do you feel about meeting Daniel?"

"Does he even want to meet me?"

"He's taking a shower right now – giving himself time to calm down – and then he's going to come hunt the two of us down."

"And where are we going to be?"

"In the kitchen, making dinner, where I will be showing you the magical things in this world called  _appliances_."

"I've seen them before, you know," Zelena reminded her, following Regina out of the room and down the stairs.

"But have you used them?"

"Mostly Rumple did it for me," Zelena admitted sheepishly.

"Uh-huh, that's what I figured." Regina turned to her once they were in the kitchen and asked suddenly, "Would you like some different clothes? Weren't those the ones you were wearing the last time I saw you?"

Zelena nodded, saying,"I've probably got some left at the farmhouse... if mice or something hasn't destroyed them."

"I've got a better idea," Regina said, her nose crinkling with a smile as she waved her hand and then surveyed the instantaneous change in Zelena's apparel. "What do you think?"

A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth as she looked down to see a green sleeveless turtleneck and khaki-colored jeans. "I like them."

"Those look a little like jodhpurs," Daniel said casually from the doorway, and as Zelena whipped around to face him, he looked at her and said, "I'm sorry if we frightened you earlier."

"No, it's alright; I understand. You were within your right to be unnerved."

"So, how about we, ah, try this again. I'm Daniel, your brother-in-law."

Zelena smiled, taking the hand that he extended. "And I'm Zelena, your sister-in-law."

"Could you ladies use some help making dinner?"


	14. Chapter 14

The three of them talked for a long, long while that evening, getting a lot of things straightened out and smoothed over, until Zelena slipped up to the guest room that Regina had declared would be hers, allowing the married couple some time to themselves.

Like Regina had said, Daniel  _was_  a good man, Zelena mused, changing into a nightdress that she had found in the dresser – part of an entire wardrobe that was at the ready, thanks to her little sister. She slid into bed and was almost instantly asleep after the emotionally exhausting day – and she'd only been alive again since after noon!

The next day was much of what last night had been. Daniel had even taken off of work so that the three of them could hole up in the house and get absolutely on the same page before Henry came back here after school.

It was the least they could do when the poor boy was inadvertently heading for one of the biggest shocks of his life.

* * *

"Mom, Dad, I'm home!" Henry called out, tumbling up the stairs to deposit his backpack in his room before he hunted them down.

He froze near his doorway, his backpack thumping onto the floor at his feet as he gaped at the equally frozen woman who had just been coming out of the guest bedroom.

She recovered first, saying gently in the crisp, British accent that he remembered, "Hello, Henry."

He didn't even reply – didn't say a word – he just ran back down the stairs and straight out the door, barely registering that both of his parents were coming in from the living room and telling him to "stop," "let us explain!" He bypassed them blindly, getting back in his car and  _gunning_ it out of there… and straight towards Grace's house.

Somehow he got there before she even made it back to her house after school. Looking around the house, he realized too late that Jefferson wasn't even home from work yet. Sighing, he dug in their mailbox until he felt the key that he knew was kept taped to the top of the inside and let himself into the house to wait for Grace. He collapsed onto the couch, feeling more winded then he had the first time he'd shown up here – and he'd been years younger and on foot all the way from town that time.

Forcing himself to take a deep breath and calm down, he lay on his back and closed his eyes, focusing on the face of the woman he'd seen in his house, making  _sure_ it was who he thought it was. Zelena. Zelena, the Wicked Witch, his aunt – who was  _supposed to be dead_  – was in his house!

His phone beeped in his pocket with what was probably the twentieth text he'd gotten since he'd left his house and he ripped it into the open with a growl, keeping his eyes closed as he pitched it across the room.

"Ow! What the–! Henry?"

His eyes flew open as he shot upright, saying, "I didn't even hear you come in."

"What's the matter?" Grace asked instantly, dropping her book bag in the doorway and scooping up his phone from off the floor before she walked across the room to sit beside him on the couch. "You look white as a sheet!"

"I, uh…" He couldn't even bring himself to say it! Instead he gestured to his phone in her hands, saying, "It's probably all in there."

"There's twenty-one new texts and three missed calls on here," she said, glancing worriedly between him and the device.

"Oh, I'm sure," Henry scoffed.

"What's going on?" she asked again.

"Read the texts," he said tiredly, "Or play the messages, I don't care."

He leaned his head against the back of the couch and closed his eyes again, suddenly feeling worn-out. Storybrooke had enjoyed a years-long stretch of glorious peace, and he could practically  _feel_ it slipping out of his grasp. The very idea had him fighting hard not to have a literal panic attack.

Beside him, Grace lifted one of his arms and put it around her shoulders, snuggling into him as she presumably played the first message when his mom's worried voice filled the air.

_"_ _Henry, I know it must've been upsetting – probably even terrifying – for you to come home to Zelena, but I do really believe that she's changed. She wants to be better for us, and if you'd come back home, please, all four of us could sit down and talk about this. Let me explain. Please, Henry."_

Grace sat up slowly and Henry eased his eyes open, seeing the shock written all over her face as she asked, "What does she mean, 'come home to Zelena'?"

"What does it sound like she meant?"

Grace asked as it dawned on her slowly, "Did she bring Zelena back to life?"

"Yup," Henry said succinctly as he put his head in his hands.

"Oh, no," Grace breathed, laying a hand on his back as she played the second message.

This one was from Daniel: " _Hey, Henry, listen, I know that was a shock for you – believe me, I felt that way yesterday when I came home from work and she was here – but your mom's worried sick, and I really don't think Zelena's going to be a threat this time around. Can you come home so we can be reasonable and talk this out?_ "

The third message was barely three words in – " _Henry, it's Aunt Z-_ " – before Henry reached over, ripped the phone out of Grace's hand, and hit the "delete" button on the message, barking, "Nope."

Grace looked at him warily, murmuring "calm down" and rubbing circles on his back as she took the phone back and began to read the texts aloud. The first few texts were simply repeats of what had been in the voice messages, and then they switched over into trying to explain instead.

"'She's my sister, my blood. I had to try,'" Grace read from his mother.

"'You know I would've already done something about it if I thought she was going to hurt anyone,'" Daniel claimed.

"'I just want to get to know my family,'" and supposedly that one came from Zelena herself.


	15. Chapter 15

 

“She tried to strangle me!” Henry cried.

Grace said softly, “So did Daniel.”

“Please don’t tell me you’re on their side!”

“No,” Grace said slowly. “I’m saying that if that’s your only argument, it’s going to be a weak one in the face of what Daniel did, considering how close you are to him now.”

“She screwed up this entire town! She’s the reason Papa died in the first place… and look at what she did to Grandpa, how much she hurt Belle! If you want specifics that aren’t mine, try those on for size!”

“I know all of that, Henry, I do,” Grace said gently, canting her head towards him and holding his hand. “But you have to try to understand… and here’s the thing – I think you can, and for the same reason that I can. We _both_ learned early to… see the good in the so-called ‘bad guys’. My papa is the Mad Hatter and your mother is the Evil Queen… or have you forgotten that because _she’s changed_?”

“But… Zelena?!” Henry moaned.

“Why not?” Grace shrugged. “Maybe it’s just that Papa never let me get anywhere near that particular villain situation, but… what makes her so much worse then the others? So much more… unredeemable than Rumplestiltskin, or the Evil Queen? Even Ingrid had a decent motive behind her madness, as did every other villain we’ve encountered!”

“Except for Pan,” Henry pointed out.

“Fine, except for Pan,” Grace agreed. “But have you looked to see _why_ Zelena did what she did?”

Henry sighed heavily. “I never even had to look for it; Mom made it clear to me as soon as she knew about it. She said Zelena only wanted to hurt her – to go back in time – because she was jealous and just wanted to have a life like Mom did.”

“That just sounds like sibling rivalry to me,” Grace pointed out with a half-hearted smile. “Maybe you really should give her a chance, Henry.”

“I _can’t believe you’re saying this_!” Henry groaned. He muttered under his breath, “I thought you loved me!”

“I do love you, dummy,” Grace said drily, jamming him lightly in the ribs. “Which is why I don’t want this to get bigger in your head then what it needs to be. You and I both know that I’m a pro at blowing things out of proportion.”

“Then why are you downplaying this!”

Grace bit her lip, answering, “Honestly... trying to create the calm before the storm for you. This is going to get really bad really fast when Rumplestiltskin finds out-“

“I know,” Henry whined in a small voice.

“-So I’m trying to get _you_ to make up your own mind on where you stand on the situation _before_ it goes downhill.”

“Downhill even _more_ , you mean.”

Grace gestured to his phone in her hand, saying apologetically, “From what I’m reading here, things were going okay before you flipped out.”

“You want me to be on their side,” Henry declared, rubbing his eyes.

“I want you to take a chance and figure out what’s going on. I had to come live with the Mad Hatter at some point, you had start letting the Evil Queen back into your life... so why not try the same thing with ‘Aunt Zelena’?”

“Don’t call her that.”

“Is this going to become the ‘why I won’t call Daniel ‘Dad’ discussion again?”

“No.”

“Good. Now, if you’re truly uncomfortable and need a place to stay, come back here, but I really would encourage you to read the rest of these texts, and then go back to the mayor’s house and get the whole story face to face. Until then,” she gestured to the phone. “This needs to stay between you and me.”

“Why?”

She handed him the phone and he saw that his family’s attempts at trying to explain had dwindled down to the final, simple message from Regina: “Come home when you’re ready but don’t tell anyone she’s alive yet.”

“Figures,” Henry muttered, massaging his forehead.

“Nah,” Grace said easily, leaning back into his side to hug him. “I can be nobody really easily; I won’t tell.”

Henry sighed, wrapping his arms around her. “Honey, I love you.”

“I love you too,” she grinned.

“But if I die from being in the same room as that witch, you’d better grieve in sackcloth and ashes.”

“I will,” Grace promised, and her already small smile slipped in such a way that Henry knew she wasn’t really kidding.

He gave her a gentle squeeze, requesting, “Remind me why you’re okay with me doing this?”

“Ultimately, because I trust Regina and Daniel to take care of _you_ before Zelena. You will be fine, you will not get hurt, at the very least you’re just going in to get information.”

“Alright,” he agreed with a nod, already feeling the blessed, calming effect that being around her had on him. “That’s reasoning that I can accept.”

“You’d better go,” she said, even while clinging to him tighter. “If you wait too long Papa’s going to come home and start asking questions… or Regina’s going to call Emma and get the entire town organizing a search party.”

Henry winced, knowing the truth in the statement, and eased onto his feet when she grudgingly unwound her arms from around him, unfolded herself from the couch, and stood beside him. “What I want to know,” he asked her. “Is what happened to the little girl who was so worried about me even going to Boston by myself?”

Grace looked at him, cocking her head to the side and smiling sadly as she replied softly, “She learned to trust that her courageous true love would always come back to her, but above all, she learned how to put on a brave face… and how to disguise her worry when the situation called for it.”

At as close to an admittance of her concern as he was starting to realize he was going to get, Henry pulled her into his arms, promising, “You’re right; I’ll be safe.” He kissed her and stepped back, promising as he headed for the door, “I’ll call you once I’ve got this all straightened out.”

She smiled – she really was just being brave for his benefit; now that he was going, she was uncertain – and called after him, “You’d better!”

 


	16. Chapter 16

Henry opened the door to the Mills’ house slowly, hearing a trio of worried voices from far down the hall – they were in the sitting room – and he followed his ears, stopping in the doorway to say carefully, “I’m back.”

“Hey, buddy, come sit down,” Daniel beckoned.

Henry bit his lip and ignored the way his mom and Zelena were both looking at him with worried, dewy eyes as he folded himself onto the floor facing the trio of adults who were filling the chair and loveseat. “Sorry I freaked,” he muttered.

“That’s alright,” Regina said softly.

“Seems to be the general reaction,” Zelena murmured. “Understandably so.”

“Where did you go?” Regina asked carefully.

“Just for a drive to clear my head.”

She narrowed her eyes, not really believing him. There were too many other people that he could turn to these days for him to _ever_ just go “for a drive” if he was upset. Instead of calling him out on the lie, she asked, “And what did clearing your head do for you?”

He shrugged. “I’m ready to listen…” he looked at Zelena, saying, “But if you want me to even begin to be comfortable with you being here, I’m going to need an extremely good reason to trust you.”

“Sometimes you have to break things to be able to put them back together, right?” Zelena asked softly.

“Sure,” Henry answered, uncertain as to where she was going with this.

She looked him in the eye admitting, “Well, that’s what happened when I lost my pendant and died… and when I saw this.”

She showed him a photo that she’d had in her lap, and his blood ran cold when he saw the image of himself, Jefferson, and Grace.

He was terrified, but made his tone as hard as flint as he demanded, “Explain.”

So she did… It was well past suppertime when the conversation wound down, and Henry was at least left believing that she was being honest about what she said, but for the first time in his life wishing that he didn’t have all the information that she’d given him. It made sense when he thought about it, and it certainly explained some of Jefferson’s strange moods that Henry had noticed around this time of year, but how exactly was he supposed to explain this to Grace?

Or should he even try to? He’d hidden things from Grace before, years ago – before the curse had broken, he’d been too afraid to tell Paige that he thought her actual father was the Mad Hatter. So he simply hadn’t told her. What was meant to come out eventually had in its own time. Surely this piece of information could work out the same way.

In the same moment that the thought crossed his mind, Zelena said, “I know I have no right to ask this – I know how close you and Grace are – but I need you to not mention this to her. Don’t tell her about Jefferson and I… but you’ve already told her that I’m alive, haven’t you? That’s where you went on your drive?” Henry blinked at her. “It takes a liar to know one,” she said with a sad, nearly teasing smile. “But you are better at it than most.”

“My mama considers herself a human lie detector, no less than four of the biggest influences in my life have been thieves at one point – most of which have also been con artists – my mom is the Evil Queen, I have an after-school job with the Dark One, who happens to be my grandfather _, and_ my step-grandfather is a pirate, as well as an aunt who is the Wicked Witch. Does that explain a lying proficiency?”

Zelena barked a laugh as he finished rattling all of this off. “You’ve got that all memorized, have you?”

“The book helps,” he offered with a small smirk.

Zelena asked curiously, “The book that started all of this way back when?”

“Yeah.”

There was a pause and then she asked again, more directly, “Does Grace know I’m here?”

“Ah…”

They’d already just proven that he couldn’t lie to her, but apparently his hesitancy was enough because she sighed, muttering, “That’s what I thought.”

Henry hurried to assure her, “But she won’t tell anyone.”

“Not even her father?”

Henry shook his head, declaring, “She knows things about a number of people that she would never dream of telling Jefferson.”

“You’re sure about her?” Regina asked.

Henry flinched, hating that first sign of what might well be in their future as he said, “You already know you can trust her; don’t let this tear that trust apart.”

Regina took a deep breath, staring nervously at her son until she nodded.

“If we tread carefully and work on this right,” he said, solemnly thoughtful as he looked at the three adults. “It may end up meaning a happily ever after for you… Aunt Zelena.”

The redhead smiled at him… and he smiled right back.

* * *

“I take it you’re still alive,” Grace declared into the phone, having taken the call the moment she saw it was Henry’s ID.

“Yes, I am, so you can stop worrying now.”

“I’m not worried!”

“I heard it in your voice, even over the phone. You were afraid you’d encouraged me to go to my death!”

“Shut up, stupid,” she demanded with a smile.

“Uh-huh, that’s what I thought.”

“How did it go?” she asked, falling backwards on her bed.

“Surprisingly well. I think it may be okay for awhile.”

“How long is ‘awhile’?”

“Mom made Aunt Zelena promise to give it a try until school lets out.”

“Just three weeks? Yay…”

“That sounded a bit sarcastic, darling.”

“I can hear the smirk in your voice, hypocrite.” He chuckled and she felt a little better, rolling over onto her stomach as she requested, “You can say it now.”

“Say what?”

“That I was right.”

“You were lying through your teeth to try and make me feel better!”

“Buy my lies became the truth, didn’t they?”

“Shut up, Paige,” he answered flippantly.

Paige… Paige would tease or, yes, lie if she thought it would make people feel better. _Grace_ was more solemn and would actually try to solve a problem if she saw it.

Her teasing fell away and she said earnestly, “I’m glad you’re feeling better about this and that you’re okay.”

“Me too.”

“Papa’s coming; I’ll see you at school tomorrow, okay? Oh, and Henry? I’m glad that you called Zelena your aunt just now.”

“Me too,” Henry repeated thoughtfully. “Alright. Bye; I love you.”

“I love you too.”


	17. Chapter 17

 A week passed. Henry had asked Grace to stay away from the Mills’ house “just in case,” so the only time they got to spend together outside of school was at the pawnshop over their habitual weekend lunches with Belle and Rumplestiltskin or when she came to the Charmings’ cramped apartment. However, the truth was that they were starting to dislike being around the Golds too because of the weight of the secret that they were keeping. Besides that, Henry was trying to spend as much time as he could getting to know – and getting a feel for – his aunt at the house that Grace was avoiding.

Two weeks passed. Grace and the entire Mills family started to get antsy; it was hard to keep such a difficult secret. Belle and Rumplestiltskin, along with Emma, Bae, and Jefferson noticed that something was up, and were confused by the teens’ avoidance. But Grace could sympathize, because she was beginning to think that Henry was keeping something more from her too.

Three weeks passed. Zelena stayed, but she was getting stir crazy inside the house… and willing to go out no matter the costs.

So they did.

However, Regina had nervously demanded that they go only to the troll bridge. “Fresh air – which you want – and no people – which I want.” And then she added, “But we can’t go until tomorrow, because I’m going to be in a town council meeting all day.”

Zelena groaned, and Henry suggested hesitantly, “You know, since no one’s going to be there… I could just go with her after school – you know, bonding time for the two of us?”

Regina furrowed her brow in thought, but she was a big proponent of niece-nephew bonding time, and when Henry repeated, “You did say no one else should be there, right?” she nodded, agreeing, “Alright.”

“Great!” Henry and Zelena chorused.

Regina smiled hesitantly and gave Henry a kiss on the forehead before she darted out the door to go to work.

Zelena and Henry watched her go, and once the car was out of sight, Henry turned to his aunt and asked, “Are you sure you still want me to ask them?”

Zelena swallowed, nervous at the idea, but nodded.

“Okay,” Henry answered gently. “Then I will. It will be fine, Aunt Z, I promise.”

“You’re sure? At the very least that she won’t be angry with you? Because she doesn’t have to come unless you want her there.”

Henry bit his lip, because, no, he wasn’t sure what to expect from her, but, “I do want her there. I always want her there. That’s what true love is.” He added pointedly, “It’s also forgiving and enduring.”

“Towards you or me?” she asked, inhaling nervously.

“ _Both_ of us,” Henry replied firmly, giving her a one-armed hug as he said apologetically, “But I really do need to get to school. I will come straight home and we will go to the troll bridge, and everything _will be fine_.”

Zelena nodded as he exited the house, but he knew that both of them were simply trying to convince themselves. By day’s end, they would know how it would play out, though, and maybe that was what made it so unnerving.

* * *

“Hey, you,” Grace said, meeting him on the steps of the school with a smile.

“Hey,” he replied with a smile as she dropped a kiss onto his cheek.

She narrowed her eyes at him, asking, “Alright, what’s wrong?”

Henry sighed, admitting, “You-know-who wants to meet you after school today.”

Grace’s eyebrows shot upwards as she said slowly, “I… could do that. At your house, I guess?”

Henry shook his head, answering, “I’ll tell you later; school really isn’t the place for this conversation. But. Um, she… wants to see your dad, too.”

“Why would she want that?” Grace asked, something sharpening in her gaze as she rocked back on her heels and asked under her breath, “What haven’t you been telling me?”

Henry shot her a helpless look, opening his mouth to try and avoid the question – but he was saved by the bell, and he’d never been more grateful for that annoying sound. Forgetting that he was going to tell her later, he begged, “Please just ask your dad to meet you at the troll bridge,” and the he practically _ran_ from her.

And he wasn’t sure which one of them hated that fact more. Yet he was still himself and it was rare that he felt he had a good handle on the art of speaking, conversing, _informing_ , and her question was one of those things that he just didn’t know how to properly answer.

She was just going to have to see this one for herself when the time came.

* * *

After school, Henry had to go back to the Mills’ mansion to pick up his aunt, so by the time he and the extremely nervous Zelena got to the bridge, Grace and Jefferson were both already there, leaning against the hoods of their respective vehicles as father and daughter talked.

“They look pretty serious,” he remarked, parking his car at the edge of the bridge.

“Do you think she’s telling him I’m alive?” Zelena asked anxiously.

Henry sighed, popping open the driver’s side door as he replied, “There’s only one way to find out. Hey,” he looked over at her before he got out, saying reassuringly, “I really do believe that he still loves you. It’ll be okay.”

Zelena smiled tremulously, took one more deep breath, and then she and Henry got out of the car. Jefferson and Grace both snapped around to face them. Grace clearly didn’t know what to think about the situation, but Jefferson… the expression that settled on his face was one that would make Henry smile every time he recalled it – because it was the look of true love reunited. Pleased, he watched as Jefferson and Zelena zeroed in on one another, walking towards one another like no one else was around.

And then the Wicked Witch was in the Mad Hatter’s arms and he was kissing her, whispering, “You have no idea how much I’ve missed you.”

 


	18. Chapter 18

Henry edged past Zelena and Jefferson and crept warily closer to Grace, asking under his breath once he reached her side, “Does this mean that he already told you what the two of them are?”

Grace nodded numbly, staring at her father and his aunt as she demanded, “ _Why_ didn’t you tell me?”

“I tried more than once, but I never could find the right words; I’m so sorry, please don’t hate me.”

“I don’t hate you, Henry,” she sighed, kicking at the rocks under their feet. “I’m just a little stun gunned right now. I told Papa about Zelena’s… resurrection over the phone… which may have been a slight mistake, I’m not sure yet. He didn’t tell me about their whatever-they-have until we got here two minutes ago, so… yeah, that’s been my day! How about you?”

Henry eyed her, trying to decide if she was actually okay with what was happening nearby before he answered honestly, “My mom’s going to kill me when she finds out about this.”

“So this _is_ supposed to be under the radar; I told Papa I thought it probably was.”

“Yeah…”

He shrugged listlessly, shoving his hands into his pockets, and Grace looped her arm through his, forgiving him easier than he had expected by a long shot as she declared, “Well, I don’t know that I’m going to be able to stomach sleeping at my house tonight,” she nodded pointedly towards Zelena and Jefferson. “– Not if they get their way, apparently. Maybe you could find somewhere else to stay too. Like with your other set of parents, whom, I have an idea are starting to feel a little neglected.”

Henry moaned, muttering, “ _That’s_ going to be an interesting conversation with Papa…”

Grace winced, squeezing his arm sympathetically, asking hesitantly, “I guess that means that we’re not even going to start on the Rumplestiltskin side of that equation?”

Henry swore outright.

“That’s what I thought,” Grace murmured, laying her head over on his shoulder as she asked timidly, “Is it our job to make this work?”

“Why would you think that?” he asked, confused as he pulled her even closer. 

She shrugged. “I’m what keeps Papa sane sometimes, like you had to with the Evil Queen and Bae with Rumplestiltskin. You’ve diffused more situations then I can count because, and I quote, ‘she’s my mom’. Jefferson is my dad, and by now I feel like Bae’s as much a father to me as he is to you! Belle’s basically the closest thing to a mother I’ve ever had, and even Rumplestiltskin… well, he’s friendly towards me, whatever that means. But if Zelena really does want to change… and if she makes Papa happy, shouldn’t we – I – do everything in my power to make sure he stays that way, even if that means protecting Zelena… from whatever’s coming?”

“It is _not_ your _job_ to protect her if you don’t want to,” Henry said firmly. “Now, no, I’ll tell you now I’m not planning on letting them devour her on sight… but that’s me protecting her, not you. Your actions, your responses, are just that – yours to decide for yourself, independent of everyone else, even me. I know that you’re at best hesitant right now.”

“Yeah,” Grace scoffed. “Hesitant is a kind word for it. But I’m not about to let you go at this alone – and I’m not going to take a backseat this time, either!” she declared suddenly. “This directly involves me, so I’m going to get directly involved, and you’re going to have to let me.”

He flinched, propping his chin on the top of her head without a word – but they’d both learned that trick, both knew what he was trying to get away with.

“You have to promise me, Henry,” she demanded sternly.

He sighed against her hair, saying reluctantly, “Alright.”

“Nope,” she still wasn’t satisfied. “I want to hear the words ‘I promise’ come out of your mouth, or else you may just pull a Rumplestiltskin on me here.”

“I will not!”

She looked up into his eyes, smirking in amusement even though she was still dead serious as she pointed out, “Then you’ll have no promise saying it.”

“You’re being dramatic.”

“I’m covering all my bases.”

“Fine,” he sighed. “I promise.”

“See! It wasn’t hard to say!” she said cheerfully.

“It’ll be harder to live out,” he muttered discontentedly, trying to pull her back to him.

She braced her hands against his chest, saying optimistically, “We can make this work.”

“Are you doing ‘the calm before the storm’ thing again?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

Grace weaved her head back and forth as she considered before answering honestly, “I’m not sure.”

“At least that means that you think there’s a fifty-fifty percent chance, right?”

She grimaced, offering, “Thirty-seventy?”

“At this point, I’ll take it,” he declared bleakly.

“Hey, look at me, Henry,” Grace took her face in her hands, forcing him to meet her gaze as she reminded him earnestly, “No. Matter. What. You and me. We’ve got each other no matter what happens. It’s been that way for seven years, and there is no way that’s changing now. Forget our parents; forget the mentors, and mothers, and employers, and aunts, and villains, and heroes! At the end of the day, no matter who comes along or what happens, I am here for you, and you are here for me. If you need an anchor, a place to come back to to regroup or stay grounded, I _am here, and I always will be_. And that’s the promise that I’m making right now.”

That coaxed a slow smile onto Henry’s face as breathed out a sigh, pressing his forehead against hers as he murmured, “And that why I need you… for those little impromptu spiels that set me straight and… well, anchor me. I need you, and I love you… and I’m going to say something that I told you when the curse first broke as a reminder to the both of us. If people start walking away from you just because who you think of as family has changed, then that’s their problem, not yours, and more than likely they weren’t worth it in the first place.”

 


	19. Chapter 19

Henry continued, saying, “Whether you decide to totally shun Zelena… or if you end up liking her and do something like bite back against whatever Papa might say, even… I need you to remember that, okay? By now I think I can handle my family splintering and coming back together, but if that is what happens, I don’t want you to get hurt in the process.”

“I’ll remember,” Grace vowed as her hands came up to wrap around his neck. “But I will be okay – _we’ll_ be okay – so long as you and I are together.”

Henry kissed her gently, promising in a whisper, “Always.”

The teenagers jumped apart, startled out of their world of two by Jefferson’s cheerful voice calling out in amusement, “What are you doing?”

“Just talking, Papa,” Grace answered evenly as she and Henry made their way over to him and Zelena.

“’Just talking,’” Jefferson repeated with a role of his eyes before focusing on his daughter and declaring, “Grace, this is Zelena. Zelena, this is my daughter, Grace.”

Zelena smile was genuinely warm and earnest as she said, “I’m pleased to meet you.”

“And you,” Grace smiled; drawing on a bit of Paige’s acting skills to hide everything but the part of her that was happy to see how thrilled her father was.

Zelena narrowed her eyes a little as she glanced between her and Henry, saying carefully, “You looked a little nervous talking over there. Are you sure you’re alright?”

“M-hm,” Henry nodded. “We will be.”

“’Will be’ is future tense,” Zelena pointed out.

“We’re fine,” Grace said. “We’ve got each other… so we’re good no matter what happens.”

“Even if…” Jefferson began hesitantly. “Zelena were to move in with you and me?”

 Grace’s eyebrows flew upward and Henry sucked in a deep breath.

“Mom…” Henry began slowly – at the same time as Grace drawled just as carefully, “Sure…”

For the second time in a half an hour, Henry swore under his breath, low enough that only Grace could hear, but the displeasure was there no less. She didn’t blame him though; she wouldn’t want to face Regina with this sudden bit of news either, particularly considering that Regina didn’t even know Zelena was meeting her or Jefferson today. The mayor was bound to be unhappy, but quite frankly, neither Jefferson nor Zelena looked like they cared. And Grace couldn’t fault them for that either… even if a small part of her still wanted to be against the woman.

But for her father’s sake she would give Zelena a chance.

* * *

“Are you sure that this is the best idea?” Zelena asked Henry worriedly as he held the door open for Grace, Jefferson, and her to go into the mayor’s house.

“Maybe, maybe not,” Henry admitted. “But at least this way the situation will explain itself instead of us having to try to do it.” He shrugged, offering hopefully, “Maybe she’ll do less screaming at us if they’re already here and your stuff is already halfway out the door.”

“You don’t honestly believe that,” Zelena said dryly.

“No,” Henry winced. “I don’t, but there’s always… hope, right?”

Zelena arched an eyebrow and opened her mouth to speak – but was cut off by a stiff “ _what_ exactly am I looking at here?” from the doorway.

Zelena turned on her toes towards the door, a nervous smile on her face as she said too cheerfully, “Hi, sis!”

“Hi…” Regina drawled, warily eyeing Jefferson and Grace over her sister’s shoulder. “What are they doing here? Who’s idea was this?”

“Mine,” Zelena confessed instantly. “I had to see him again, Regina – and you had to know that it was going to happen eventually!”

“Eventually, yes,” Regina said, turning her gaze back to Zelena with a sigh. “But I thought maybe _after_ the rest of the town knew that you were back!”

“They’re the only part of the rest of the town that I care about,” Zelena murmured, tears springing to her eyes as she steeled herself to let the other shoe drop. “That’s why I’m going to live with them.”

Regina didn’t scream; she just stared at her sister, eyebrows raised incredulously, gaping… speechless. And Zelena almost wished that she would scream instead.

But all that eventually came out of Regina’s mouth was an eerily calm, even defeated, “Okay.” She sighed, looking down at the floor as she muttered, “That’s what’s going to make you happy, and I know it, so… go.” Seeing Zelena’s expression, Regina rushed to assure her, “No, not like that; I’m not angry with you… much. I just wasn’t expecting this so soon. But, uh,” Regina took a deep breath and looked resolutely at the redhead. “I still love you, and you and I are fine – but Jefferson loves you too, and you’ll be happiest with him.” She smiled, giving her sister a peck on the cheek before she swept past her and pointed a finger at Jefferson, declaring menacingly, “But if you hurt her, I will kill you, do you understand me?”

Jefferson rocked back on his heels with an amused half-smirk. “Sure, Regina, I hear you.”

“I don’t think you do,” Regina growled.

“I don’t _have_ to,” Jefferson explained with a smile. “Because I’m not going to hurt her – not now, not ever – the Golds and Charmings are going to be a much bigger problem than I ever will be.” He bowed with a playful flourish, promising with sparkling eyes, “I _promise_.”

* * *

And that was a promise that he kept to the letter over the next month, and it was obvious to Grace that he had never been happier. Zelena, however, was getting ridiculously stir crazy again, no matter how often Henry, Regina, and Daniel came over or how much time Grace spent getting to know her – and growing to like her. It was becoming obvious that they were going to have to let the cat out of the bag soon; Zelena couldn’t keep living in no space beyond the enclosed walls of Jefferson’s mansion.

That meant that at the very least the Charmings and the Golds had to be told Zelena was alive; there was no way their stumbling upon her in town would’ve ended well. But the closer Grace got to Zelena, the more she considered giving the others she considered family news that would so rock their world… the harder the thought became. Yet it had to be done… didn’t it?


	20. Chapter 20

 

Regina took a deep breath, staring down at the phone like it just might kill her – but she had to do it. Zelena had been in town – in hiding – for nearly two months, and the poor woman was starting to go crazy. This wasn’t how Regina had meant for her to live, and it was Regina’s fault that she was here at all, which made it the mayor’s responsibility to see to it that Zelena at least had a chance at a normal life here. Right?

“Right,” Regina said firmly, picking up the phone and deciding to start with the easiest call first – Snow.

“Hello?” her stepdaughter picked up the phone using that same cheerful tone that used to rake like nails on chalkboard across Regina’s ears.

That irritation was no more, there was only well-concealed nervousness in her tone as Regina cut to the chase, “Snow, I was wondering if maybe I could use your apartment for a little bit of a meeting tonight.”

“Between who?”

“Everyone who already lives there, Daniel and I, the Jones’, and the Golds.”

“Sure. Do you want me to get a hold of Hook for you? I’m pretty sure David has his number.”

“That would be helpful; thanks.”

“Of course; this’ll be fun!”

Regina winced, offering her thanks once again before she hung up the phone as she tried to decide how she felt about the fact that the town had been without problems for so long that Snow didn’t meet her odd request with an inquiry of whether or not something was wrong, or if she should be worried. It spoke to just how much trust the two of them had built up between one another… just how much Regina stood to lose.

She hated it, even if she had done it to herself, she thought.

The phone felt like a ton of bricks in her hand as she picked it up and punched in the numbers to reach Gold’s shop.

* * *

“Hey,” Belle said cheerfully, stepping into the shop with Grace behind her. Rumplestiltskin attempted to smile back at her and was fairly certain that he mostly failed. His suspicions were confirmed when his wife plopped the habitual picnic basket onto the counter with a frown already knitting her brows and asked quietly, “What’s wrong?”

“Unforeseen backlash to the precognition,” he muttered, beginning to unpack the basket.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked, cocking her eyebrow.

He opened his mouth to answer – but was cut off by the ringing of the shop’s phone. He raised his own eyebrows and pointed towards the device. “It means _that_.”

Belle, Henry, and Grace all looked at him strangely as he picked up the phone. “Mr. Gold speaking.”

“It’s me,” Regina declared.

“Ah, your majesty, to what do I owe the pleasure?”

“I need you to come to the Charmings’ for a meeting tonight. Bring Belle.”

“Are our presences a request or a command?” he asked, disguising his nerves with amused sarcasm.

“Does it make a difference with you? It’s important, Imp; just show up on time. Please.”

“Hm,” he drawled, winding the phone cord around his finger as he spoke. “’Imp’. I haven’t heard that one in awhile. Are you nervous about something, Regina?”

“Just be at the apartment at seven,” she snapped before hanging up abruptly.

Rumple raised his eyebrows and lowered the phone back to its cradle as Henry asked carefully, “What’s wrong?”

“Your mother wants Belle and me to meet her at your grandparents’ later,” he said dismissively.

“Did she say why?” Belle asked.

“No.”

His wife narrowed her eyes, studying him and seeing _straight_ through him as she asked perceptively, “Do you know why?”

He was sorely tempted to lie as he noticed Henry and Grace exchange a glance out of the corner of his eye, both of them made nervous by the weight of the secret he knew they carried. “I’ll tell you later, sweetheart,” he promised, and only as the words passed his lips did he realize that was exactly what he needed to do if there was going to be any hope of preserving the peace as this situation unfolded.

“Is everything okay?” Belle asked warily.

He opened his arms for her to step into and buried his face in her hair, breathing in deeply as he said a little shakily, “It may be soon.”

“But it’s not now?” Grace asked nervously and one glance at her showed that Belle was the only one here who hadn’t guessed – didn’t already _know_ – what this was about.

He looked her dead in the eye and made a promise that he would try his hardest to keep, ultimately for the sake of his grandson and the boy’s true love, for that matter. “I won’t cause issues over it.”

Rumplestiltskin wasn’t the type of man to forgive easily, if at all, and he wasn’t willing to forgive Zelena, but he liked deals, business, supply and demand, checks and balances.  If he chose to, he could see things being weighed in the balances and evening out here. Zelena had died because of Bae’s death; Bae had been brought back to life, and now so had Zelena. He didn’t like it, necessarily, and he didn’t have to, but he could live with it, and for the sake of his family, he would do exactly that.

Having that resolve didn’t make it any easier to make himself get around and head with Belle for the Charmings’ in time to be there at six. An hour early, so he could tell them the truth before Regina – and, for that matter, Henry – arrived. David, Mary Margaret, Emma, Neal, and Bae were the only ones there when they arrived, and that was how he preferred it – after all, how much trouble were Hook and Milah really going to cause over this? Milah didn’t know enough to care, and there was a solid chance that Hook just _wouldn’t_ care.

“You’re early,” Emma commented as Bae slipped up to give Belle a one-armed hug and shake Rumplestiltskin’s hand.

“Is that alright?” Belle asked. “He was in an awful hurry to  get here before Regina and Henry,” her eyes canted accusingly towards him as she finished, “Not that he would tell me why.”


	21. Chapter 21

“Because you won’t like what I have to say,” Rumplestiltskin explained. “I’ve had years to adjust to the idea; no one else is going to be allowed that luxury, I’m afraid.”

“What are you talking about, Gold?” David spoke up.

“Regina’s news,” Rumplestiltskin sighed. “She’s going to want you to react better then you’re going to want to respond.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Mary Margaret inquired.

At the same time, Bae demanded, “Less riddles, please.”

Rumplestiltskin nodded and waved a hand at the chairs behind them, declaring, “You’ll want to sit down for this.”

He settled into a chair, gripping the arms to still the tremors in his own hands as the others took seats too. Emma, however, surprised him, crouching down in front of his chair, taking one of his trembling hands in his own, and worriedly offering the one-word question, “Papa?”

Ah, the title that was more important in his life, doing what it always did – simultaneously calming, strengthening, and terrifying him

“What’s wrong, Rumple?” Belle asked, claiming his other hand.

Flanked by the two women who more than any others had learned to see when he was troubled, he took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down and speak. “Zelena…”

“Is dead,” Bae finished, watching his father’s face carefully as he asked hesitantly, “Isn’t she?”

Bae, Rumplestiltskin realized suddenly. Seeing his son go through this was going to be the worst part for the Dark One. “No,” he whispered painfully, moisture gathering in his eyes as he released Emma’s hand to reach for his boy’s.

Bae thudded to his knees beside Emma, gripping his father’s hand and reaching for his true love’s as well. Father and son had gone through a good bit of Zelena’s captivity together, and Rumplestiltskin saw the memories of everything that Bae remembered flash through his eyes in that next moment.

“Zelena’s alive?” Mary Margaret gasped, eyes instantly flying to the crib where Neal slept.

“Yes,” Rumplestiltskin nodded before assuring them, “But she doesn’t want anything from anyone except to be allowed to live a peaceful life.”

“With who?” David snapped, beginning to fire off questions. “How long has she been alive? Who brought her back and how? Where is she now?”

“She’s been back – alive and in Storybrooke – for nearly two months. Regina cast the same spell that Emma and I did years ago, using exactly the same method.”

“Why would she do that?” Mary Margaret asked shrilly, going to scoop Neal up into her arms.

“Because they’re family, I suspect,” Rumplestiltskin replied.

“More important question:” Emma spoke up darkly. “How do we kill her again?”

Rumplestiltskin moved to squeeze her hand sympathetically as he looked into those dark eyes that were so alight with fury and said the words that spoke to just how far he’d come since he’d last encountered Zelena, “”That’s where it gets complicated… we don’t.”

“You want to let her live?” Belle clarified, sounding stunned.

“Why?” Charming asked between gritted teeth.

“It’s not so much that I want to let her live,” Rumplestiltskin explained. “Because I’m sure we all know I don’t, but I also don’t want to hurt the people who’ve grown close to her.”

“You do not care about Regina _that_ much,” Mary Margaret called him out instantly.

“No,” he replied carefully. “I don’t.”

Emma realized first, whispering only, “Henry knows.”

“He does,” Rumplestiltskin nodded, admitting hesitantly, “Zelena lived with the Mills for the first three weeks she was back.”

“And where is she now?” Charming bit out one of his previous questions.

“Now, you see, that’s where it gets complicated,” Rumple revealed. “That’s the reason I’m against killing her, actually. For the past month, she’s been living with her true love – which she found and had previously left before she started turning into the green gremlin we all know and love.”

“She has a true love?” Bae choked out as David repeated impatiently, “Where do we find her?”

Rumplestiltskin drew in a deep breath, eyeing David as he revealed, “She’s been staying with Jefferson Samuels,” his gaze flickered between Belle and Bae, the two he knew would be most concerned, as he finished, “And Grace.”

A switch went off in Baelfire, one Rumplestiltskin knew well; he’d just shoved aside his own fears in favor of looking after his child… and that might very well make this situation all that much easier.

But then again, there could be other things conspiring to make it harder too, he thought sourly as Henry barged into the apartment – right into the middle of the unanticipated scene – with Regina and Daniel at his heels. All three of them froze, realizing that something was happening, and Daniel asked carefully, “What’s going on?”

Regina’s thoughts were moving quicker than her husband’s, and before anyone could answer, she spat out in Rumplestiltskin’s direction, “You useless _seer_! You _knew_ , didn’t you?!”

“Not on purpose, I assure you,” Rumplestiltskin answered gravely. “Years ago, I used my… _gift_ to look into Grace’s future, and it was impossible to miss how big a part of it Zelena became – is currently becoming.”

“So, you all know then?” Henry asked, still obviously stepping on proverbial eggshells as he looked around the room. Emma nodded for them all and Henry inquired timidly, “How much trouble am I in?”

Emma looked at Bae, a quick conversation flitting between their gazes before Bae answered, “None, I don’t think; we get why you didn’t tell us, and quite frankly, if I know you like I think I do, keeping this a secret has been killing you enough to be a punishment all its own.”

Henry’s breath left him in a relieved “whoosh” as  Belle demanded quickly, “Grace?”

“She’s actually been handling it really well so far,” Henry assured her. “Jefferson may’ve been a genius to keep her holed up when Zelena came through the first time; her lack of previous memories of Zelena is definitely saving them now.” Henry lowered himself down onto the couch beside Snow as he said thoughtfully, “She is, however, terrified of losing _you and Papa_ over this.”

“Why would she think that?” Bae asked in honest confusion.

“Because Zelena is basically her step-mother, and they actually have a really good relationship going on right now. She’s afraid that’ll affect how my family – like I said, particularly Papa’s side of the family – look at her. That’s the last thing she wants.”

“And it’s the last thing she’ll get,” Bae said firmly.


	22. Chapter 22

When Hook and Milah showed up a little less than an hour later, at the time Regina had actually appointed, all the objections had been hashed out, the issues had been smoothed over, and an actual plan had been decided upon.

“Wait a bloody minute here!” Killian said loudly when Emma had finished explaining the situation. “You want us to do what tomorrow?”

“Meet Zelena at Golden Blends,” David replied evenly. “All of those who are here with Zelena, Jefferson, and Grace. Mary Margaret already called Kathryn, who’s assured us she’ll keep the place empty for us. It’s neutral territory – leaning towards our turf – which we want, and that makes it a good place to start making peace with Zelena, which we also want.”

“Why?” Milah bit out acidly. Contrary to what Rumplestiltskin had assumed, Kathryn and Killian had told her more about what the town’s occupants had been put through then he thought they had. Zelena had easily been one of the bigger topics they’d discussed, and she knew enough to be nervous at her return.

“For Henry and Grace,” Rumplestiltskin spoke up from where he’d been silently observing them from the other side of the room. “Zelena’s becoming important to Grace, and I want to honor that since she’s eventually going to become a part of the family.”

Milah stood there for a long second, just staring at him, before she bit out, “If this gets you or our son killed, I’ll consider it on your head.”

“Isn’t that what you say about everything that goes wrong?” he asked before he could stop himself.

“Guys!” Bae jumped in immediately, saying a little desperately, “You’ve gotten along fine for three years; don’t let Zelena start tearing this family apart when she’s not even in the same room as us yet! Can we _please_ ,” his sweeping gaze fell in turn to Killian, Belle, Rumplestiltskin, and Milah as he spoke, “Just agree to _all_ watch out for each other tomorrow – not just for safety’s sake, but so that we don’t let each other lose our tempers? This really does sound like it’s going to be important to Grace.”

“And me!” Henry spoke up, knowing that if Grace couldn’t get to them, he could. “So please let’s just _attempt_ to make Aunt Zelena feel… not hated? Can we do that?”

People slowly nodded all around the room, and Belle muttered for them all, “We’ll try our hardest.”

* * *

“Don’t be nervous,” Grace coaxed, tugging Zelena’s hand so that she’d get out of Jefferson’s vehicle. “Henry said that they all swore they’d behave, if nothing else because they love me,” she smiled her brightest. “And I love you.”

“You’re sure they won’t kill me?” Zelena muttered, allowing Grace to pull her to the door of the coffee shop as Jefferson’s calming touch landed in the small of her back.

“Not in front of your sister, true love, or child,” Grace answered evenly as they stepped over the threshold. She looked towards the dozen people splayed in groups throughout the room as she asked, “Right, guys?”

“Of course,” Regina said evenly, standing to go and wrap her sister in a hug. “You’ll be fine,” she whispered in her ear before leading her over to a table where she was already sitting with Daniel.

Jefferson trailed behind the two sisters as Grace headed towards the bar where Henry was sitting with Bae and Emma. “How are you?” Henry inquired softly, dropping a kiss onto her cheek as she sat down between him and Bae.

“Good.”

“How’s Aunt Zelena?”

“She’ll be fine as long as she survives this,” Grace muttered honestly.

“What about you?” Bae asked, eyeing her.

“What about me?”

“Are you going to be fine?”

“So long as everyone I care about survives this,” Grace sighed.

“They will,” Emma told her. “I trust everyone here to behave for you two.”

And they all did – surpassed the teens’ expectations even. The Charmings and Golds weren’t _friends_ with Zelena – or even Jefferson – by the end of the visit, but they had reached an unspoken truce for Henry’s and Grace’s sakes.

The two of them weren’t naïve; they knew that was the best that they could hope for, but they’d gotten that best case scenario. They’d been working since the breaking of the first curse to get everyone to get along – the job had gotten easier for awhile, sure – they could work hard for it now that Zelena was here too.  

“So we’re all actually sitting here agreeing that it’s time to move on?” Regina asked in surprise, eyebrows raised like she couldn’t believe how smoothly this was happening – none of them could, really, but they weren’t stupid enough to question it.

“I guess so,” Bae shrugged, casting a side-glance towards the two thrilled teens.

“How nice for you all,” a new voice drawled from the doorway.

Half the room jumped up from their seats in surprise as Kathryn snapped, “I locked the door when the last person came in; would you like to tell me how you got in here?”

A hung-over-looking Will Scarlet proudly held up a lock pick, declaring, “I need tonic, Milah.”

“A tonic for a bloody hangover from a coffee shop?” Killian snorted. “That’s not exactly on the menu, mate.”

“But your wife pities me enough to do it anyway,” Will muttered, going to prop his elbows on the counter beside Grace.

“Plus he pays double for it,” Milah declared, rolling her eyes as she placed the glass down in front of him. “So we don’t complain.”

Will slapped bills down on the counter and swallowed a gulp of what he’d been given, gagging at the acrid taste. “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it,” Milah muttered seriously.

“How many times has he had to come in here drunk for you to actually start offering him that?” Bae asked his mother under his breath.

Milah shook her head, looking caught between pity – because she absolutely understood the draw of alcohol – and annoyance – because there was no reason for him to be here really. And no one was helped when someone else knocked at the window of the coffee shop.

“Are we okay to open now then?” Kathryn asked, looking around at everyone but Will.

David answered for the group, “Sure.”

Then Regina asked a much different question as she studied the woman standing outside the shop, looking excitedly… towards Will? “She’s not from Storybrooke? Who is she?”

 Everyone’s attention turned to the window then, towards the blonde who’d just realized that the shop’s door was already unlocked.

“Ana!” Will cried, jerking to his feet.

Jefferson stood too, slowly, murmuring under his breath in shock, “Annie?”

Then both men suddenly declared at the same time, “That’s my wife!”


End file.
